Monster Girl Quest AU
by ChaosNameless
Summary: A ligther and softer version fic of the visual novel. There will be lemons.
1. Chapter 1

I started writing this story a few months back and I already have a few chapters done which i´ll be uploading after some editing.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1

I woke up with a start.

\- What – who, uh? Must have been a dream.

I looked into the window and saw that the sun already above the horizon meaning it has already past seven.

Time to get up and get ready, it's an important day today, I thought to myself.

Today was the day I was going to leave the village and go travel the world, something I have been preparing for months.

\- What was I dreaming? – There was a light and the voice of a woman? - I said, pondering while getting dressed, trying to remember the fragments from my dream.

I went to the kitchen to see what was left that I could eat before my journey.

\- Hmm, the stew from last night but it was a little bland, better get a few herbs from that spot next to the road, moldy bread hard as rock, going to throw that way and a few nuts that will do until I get breakfast going.

I grabbed my coin purse and got to the door, there was sunny day with only a few clouds in the horizon, there were a few people walking around, already going with their daily tasks.

\- Morning Trevor - I said to a guard that was passing by.

\- Morning Luka - He responded back - Just a warning, if you´re going to the outskirts of the village, someone reported there were monsters close to the village but it turns ou it´s just a slime walking around, so don´t get surprised if you see one . - He warned

\- Okay, thanks Trevor - I walked to the pile of lumber that I normally use for wood.

\- Better take the axe just in case.

I got out of the village and went to the usual spot to gather the herbs I wanted.

\- These ones will do just nicely. - I said.

\- U-umm e-excuse me? - Said a distinctive female voice.

I turned around and saw an unusual sight, a girl blue colored skin, well not really skin but some kind of translucid fluid, in place of her legs there was a poodle and she was fidgeting her fingers nervously. She didn´t seem to anything like the descriptions that the old senile retired priest yapps about.

\- Can I help you? - I asked her.

\- D-Do you know if someone in the village sells surrapa? - She asked

\- If they sell what?

\- Surrapa, the drink every monster drinks? Do you know if someone sells it around here?

\- Monsters don´t come this far south, I don´t think you gone find your drink around here.

\- Darn it, just going to have to be water for a while. Thanks for telling me. Bye. - She said and walked (?) away.

\- So long.

A few minutes later.

Well that was a strange way to start the day. Still I´m going to start my travels today and with a nice day to start it, blue sky, birds chipping, birds flying, birds crashing.

KABOOM!

Birds don't crash like that.

I run in the direction of the crash an when I arrived there I saw the strangest thing, a woman lying in the ground, well not a human woman at least, since from the waist down she has a snake tail, meaning she was a lamia a specie native from the Sentora continent, purple skin, horns, white hair and yellow eyes which were staring right at me, jump scaring me and making me drop my things.

\- Oh hi d-didn´t realize you were conscious.

The strange woman got up and looked around confused and asked:

\- Where am I?

\- You´re in the forest around Ilias village. - I responded.

\- What? - She asked, still confused

\- It's in the southest part of Ilias continent. - I explained

\- What? - She reapeated.

\- You kind of felled from the sky and crashed.

\- She looked at me confused for a moment and then her face filled with realization.

\- Oooh, right … well I´m never using that spell ever again. - She said, crossing her arms.

\- Do you need help? I mean, medically. You just fell from the sky. - I said.

\- No I´m fine I just need to get my bearings, leave me alone, go away, sho. - She said uninterested. She didn´t seem hurt, no bruises or scratches, just a bit of dirt on her.

\- Alright I´ll be going since you don´t need my help. Bye. - I said. I grabbed my basket and left the flying women for her own business. I returned to the trail, to go back to the village.

Well, that definitely was weirder than the slime encounter, maybe I should have insisted in helping her; then again she probably would have try to eat me … no wait, that just silly.

I returned to the village, first making my way into the blacksmith.

\- Morning Jessie, I'm here for my special order. - I said.

\- Morning Luka, it's ready, I made the last touches last night.

She laid a sword in the counter next to a leather scabbard and a sharpening stone, a light grey double-edged blade connected to a slightly darkened grey guard connected to a grip wrapped in a piece of green cloth with a round pommel.

\- Good old fashioned tempered steel. 500 years old smiting technique and still as useful as today if you need a weapon for protection. - Jessie said with pride. - Speaking of that, you heard about a monster roaming close to the village? - She asked me.

\- Yes, turns out it was just a slime looking for some booze. - I responded.

\- Heh, must be form the elusive slime colony that there somewhere in these parts, good thing there wasn´t a ´´hero`` around, the poor thing could have been in trouble. - She said.

I couldn´t agree more, since the ´´accident`` three years ago when a ´´blessed`` hero came to village in his travels to rest boasting about how much of a badass he was and being pretty much a massive jerk, people didn´t like his presence much simply tolerating him because he has spending money in food and booze with generous tips until he decided to rob a house and kill the person who lived there, just a kind old man.

When the villagers demanded for justice the idiot boasted while swinging his sword that he could kill anyone he wanted including children. The villagers didn't take kindly to that remark so they hanged him, it was disturbing seeing someone die like that but I couldn´t really feel any pity for the person in question.

Suffice to say the priest hasn´t done any more blessings since.

\- Well good thing we don't have anyone jerkish enough in the village to want to be a hero, here´s the rest of the payment. - I said and gave her the pouch with coins I had with me.

\- Thank you, you won´t be disappointed. - She said, still with a hint of pride.

I put the sword in the scabbard and grabbed the sharpening stone and left the blacksmith back home. Time for breakfast before going to start the big travel, I tought to myself has I opened the door to my house.

\- Hello. - Greeted a voice has I entered my house. Standing in the kitchen, was the ´´woman`` I had met in the forest.

\- What are you doing here? - I asked her.

\- You forgot your axe in the forest- She said, extending her arm with my axe.

\- Oh thank you - I said aind took it from her and leaned it against the wall. - How did you found me? - I asked her.

\- I followed your scent. - She answered

\- You followed my scent? - I asked back.

\- Yes, lamias have a very strong smell of scent. - She explained.

\- Impressive. - I said. - So I'm heating stew for lunch, since you´re alrady here would you like to have lunch with me? - I asked her. It´s not like I could just forcibly evicted her, I mean, I could but that would be rude of me.

\- Well, that crash did left me with a hole in the stomach; sure I will eat some of your stew. - She said. - Take a seat then. - I said and so she did.

I heated the stove and put the pot with the stew on top off it. Then grabbed some the herbs I had collected and dropped them into the pot and started to stir the stew with a wooden spoon.

\- So, you never told me your name. - I asked her.

\- Alipheese Fateburn XVI. - She answered.

\- That is a … impressive name.

\- You can call me Alice, everyone does.

\- Oh, that´s easier to pronounce, mine´s Luka by the way. - I said. - So, Alice what made you crashed in the neighborhood? - I asked her has I put the plates on the table.

\- I punched an angel. - She said with a proud smile.

\- … You punched an angel.

\- Yes, I was flying, saw an angel and decided to punch it and that made me crash. - She said without a hint of sarcasm.

\- How can you fly if you don´t mind me asking, you don´t have wings.

\- I used a spell to fly, a spell that I had barely any control over it

\- And that´s what made you crashed?

\- Yes, that was obvious.

I didn´t have any more questions after that. I wnt back to the stove, raised the spoon from the pot and tasted the stew.

\- That seems about done, let's eat. - I said and took the pot from the pot and put it in the center of the table. I served the food to Alice first and then me. I sat down, on my chair and start eating while taking a better at Alice.

She is wearing some kind of boiled leather armor that covers her upper body completely from the neck to the arms and to the waist and underneath that was what looked like a battle skirt from the illustrations I saw in book when I was younger, she was also very tall or long since her tail could reach all to the other side of the kitchen. She also has a sword in her back, in fact she has four swords by the number of pummels I could see. Why would anyone to carry that many swords? Maybe she has a spell that makes her grow an extra pair of arms? And looking at her face I think she might be the most beautiful woman I´ve seen in my life, with a smooth skin without any kind of blemishes or scars and pretty yellow eyes looking at me.

\- What? Do I have something in my face? - She asked me

\- Um, no. I was just wondering, is that what you do for a living? Punching angels in the face?

\- What? No. I´m a … traveling gourmet. Yes that's it, I travel and taste the regional dishes. What about you? What do you do?

\- I work as lumberjack but sometimes I help other people with their farming and carpeting, until today anyway since today I´m going to travel to see the world. - I answered.

\- So you´re leaving this village? That explain why you have everything so tidy up and a full backpack over there. - She said pointing at my pack travelling gear with her fork.

\- Yes, that´s the reason. - I said.

\- Mmm, mind if I accompany you? - She asked me has she finished her meal.

\- You want to travel with me?

\- Well I´m kinda lost, I don´t know anything about this continent and honestly I need help.

\- I guess it would be really mean of me to just leave stranded, alright let's go travel together. I said

\- Yes! See you outside the village! - She said, full of enthusiasm.

\- I still have … to do something first. - I said, turning to her. - Where did she go?- I went outside looking for any signs of my guest.

\- How the heck did she disappeared like that? - I asked. - Well if she was serious about traveling with me, I better finish the last thing I need to do.

I cleaned the dishes, grabbed my essentials, locked the door and made my way to Betty´s house. Betty had been a surrogate mother for me since my own mother death, so I had to say farewell to her before I leave.

\- Hey Betty I´m leaving today so … here´s the key to my house. - I said

\- Oh Luka, it shame to see you leave, but if that's your decision it's your decision. - She said with a bit of sadness in her voice

She leans and gives me a kiss in the forehead.

\- Just remember that you always have a home to return here. - She said with a smile.

\- Aaah geez, you making me blush.

I kissed her in the cheek and said my farewells.

I made my way to the road to star my journey and found Alice waiting for me.

\- Are you ready to go. - She asked me.

\- Yes let´s get going. - I responded.

We started walking, well I was walking and Alice was slithering, following the road to the next settlement.

After a few minutes of silence I got bored and decided to start a Q and A session.

\- So Alice where do you need to go exactly? - I asked her

\- I want to get out of this continent and go to Sentora. - She responded.

\- Well for that we better pass by Iliasburg which halfway and then in Illiasport he take a ship to Port Natalia which is the closest city in Sentora by Ship. - I explained

\- Does every settlement in this continent have Illias in its name? - She asked.

\- Pretty much.

\- Someone didn´t have much imagination when they settled here, I guess there will be ´´heroes`` in these places doing petty crimes and being an annoyance in general. - She said.

\- Yeah, we got a problem like that in the village a few years back, a hero killed one of us, on purpose even and got hanged because of that. Since then there haven´t been any more blessings. - I said.

\- I´ve heard of cases like that happening in Sentora in human villages. Shows what kind of people these so called heroes are, they should take a look at some real heroes like the Order of Clerics, they travel the land curing sick people and plagues. - I said.

\- We actually had clerics going to the village during a plague 8 years ago, they save most of the village.

Not my mother, she was already dead when they arrived. - But still I heard the church main body shuns the clerics, they say their ways are blasphemy. - I said.

\- Pfff, bunch of idiots if you ask me, you shouldn´t badmouth the person that can save your life, speaking of church I guess there aren´t many monsters around here?

\- No, I mean there´s a slime colony somewhere close to my village but besides that no, there isn´t any other kind of monster around here. - I explained.

\- Slimes? Didn´t know there were slimes this far south, still it makes sense slimes only need water for – Oh! - Alice suddenly stopped and sniffed.

\- What´s wrong? - I asked her

\- Guess you are wrong when you said there weren't any monster around here. Hide.

\- Hide? What are you talking about? - I looked around. - There´s no one around besides … us. - She disappeared again. How did she do that?

\- Hi there. - Said a unfamiliar voice. - I turned around and saw a girl with a strange dress and hat, a tattoo in her face and a sword in her hip.

\- Mmm, yes you will do nicely. - The girl said

\- Can I help you? - I asked her.

\- Actually yes, take your clothes, lay down and just let me have my way with you. - Said the girl with a sadistic smile

\- I don´t think I will be doing that. - I said with a glare and grabbing the hilt of my sword.

She started walking, getting closer to me her ´´dress`` undulating with pink things moving in place of her feet's, releasing what appeared to be mucus. She was some kind of monster.

\- Don´t worry I'll be gentle, just lay down and think of … girls with legs.

I took my sword from its scabbard.

\- Just walkway. - I warned her

She took a shorter sword than mine from her own scabbard. - Well I´ll just have to undress you myself. -

Alright Luka, you practiced for this, right foot in front of left foot, two hands in the grip, blade in diagonal.

She strikes I parry easily and pushed her. She strikes again I parry again pusher her and slash her in the left cheek the one with the tattoo. She strikes three times this time and I parry all of them and leave a tiny cut in her chest making her bleed. She strikes again more furiously, again I parry easily and kick her in the chest making her stumble back. This time I´m the one who goes into offensive giving fast strikes, negating her the chance of riposting. I keep striking until she makes a mistaking allowing me to leave the tip of my blade touching her neck a drop of blood sliding through it.

I don´t want to kill her. I don´t want to be a murderer.

\- Just leave. - I warn her.

She hissed and started flailing wildly, making me step back. I strike back making her lose her balance and stumble, giving me access to slash her from under her right eye to her chin.

-I warned you.

This time she screeched and started to flail more wildly than before like an angry kid with a wooden sword just trying to hit something. And then she got hit with a red tail and slammed into a tree.

\- What a sore loser. - Alice said

\- Alice? Where were you? - I ask her.

\- I was hiding like I told you to do. - She responded

\- I didn´t have time to hide, your warning was cryptic, and why didn´t you help me? - I asked her

\- I was going to, but you didn´t have trouble fighting her just finishing the fight and you were just dragging it so I decided to finished it myself. - She responded. - Also I really didn´t want to fight. - he added

\- … Fine! But don´t just leave me in that kind of situation like that! - I said a bit upset.

Seriously what kind of jerk would do that?

\- Alright geez, sorry, no need to yell. - She complained. - Next time I´ll help you.

\- Good, anyway should we leave her like that? You hit her pretty hard. - I said.

\- Leave her, she´s an exiled. - Alice said.

\- An exiled? - I asked

\- Yes, the tattoo in her face marks her has an exiled, a criminal by her village, that specific mark means something serious like murder or rape. - Alice explained.

\- I wasn´t really paying attention to her face. - I said. I did noticed but I was more concerned with the fight.

\- Anyway, we should really keep going if want to reach Illiaswhatever before night fall. - Alice said.

\- You know by the position of the sun I don´t think we're not going to able to do that. - I said.

I was right.

By the time the sun was starting to set on the horizon our destination was nowhere in sight. We decided to start a camp close to the road so we could eat and rest until morning; I made dinner consisting of dried meat seasoned with the rest of the herbs I caught earlier, with some carrots and lettuce, a satisfying meal to finish the day Alice at least look satisfied a she devoured her meal.

\- Hmm that was delicious, you´re a good cook, if I has a rich noble living in a castle I would make my personal cook and never be hungry again. - She said satisfied.

\- Thanks for the compliment. - I thank her

\- Now everything's that missing is a glass of surrapa.

\- Huh… What is exactly is surrapa? I got a slime asking me earlier if there was any around here. - I said.

-It's what every monster needs to drink. - Alice said.

Is that some kind of booze? - I asked her.

\- No it´s actually like a staple food like bread, you have a church in your village so you must have been told that monsters need human semen to live right?

\- Yes. - I responded.

\- Well surrapa is the perfect substitute. It feeds that primal hunger that monsters have. Pretty much every monster settlement has surrapa plant crops, I mean we still need humans for reproduction. - She explained.

\- So. how is it made? - I asked her

\- Well, the leaves of the plant are left to dry in a dried closed environment and then they are putted in water to absorb it for a few hours, normally a large recipient and voulá! - She explained.

\- That´s interesting. - I said.

\- Yep. Weird that you mentioned a slime wanting surrapa, they only need water to survive, anyway my time for questions. - She said. - Where did you learned how to fight? - She asked me.

\- I learned form a book. - I responded.

\- A book?

\- Yes, it was called the basics of swordsmanship through the ages written by someone with a name I can´t pronounce, I read it and practiced its lessons until I got everything. - I explained.

\- You don´t happen to have that book with you by any chance? - Alice asked me.

\- No I traded it a few months back for a sack of carrots. - I responded.

\- You shouldn't just trade books away like that, in such an isolated village like yours, books are a luxury. - She scolded me.

\- Right … So, you like someone who´s been trained in sword fight, what did you think of my epic duel? - I asked her.

\- I wouldn´t call it an epic duel, but you did good, you did basics pretty well and hold yourself just fine, then again your opponent wasn´t exactly very well trained, but it's good to know the basics, especially for a journey like this.

\- Thanks, so what about you, how where you trained? - I asked.

\- My mother well not my real mother, my adoptive mother taught me everything about sword combat, the basics and advanced she even taught me magic. - She answered

\- Yeah you mentioned doing spells what kind of magic can you used besides faulty flying spells?

\- Aren´t you funny? - Alice asked sarcastically. - Well mostly spells for combat, the 4 elements, dark energy, healing, I know how to some rituals and basic necromancy, my best ones are fire and ice, check it out. - She raises her hands and makes a floating flame in one hand and a circulating white-blueish mist in the other.

\- Oooooh that´s so cool! - I said.

\- With enough power I can make a big chunk of ice where you standing. - She said proudly.

\- Awesome! Hey, maybe you could teach me some sword techniques, if you´re okay with that.

\- Mmmh … yes actually I could teach you a technique that's just right for your level of skill, we can start right now if you want. - She said.

\- Really? Well I was just being hopeful but, yeah okay teach me please! - I said, excited.

We started practicing, being careful since we were using real swords and not training ones, and we entered a rhythm while Alice started to explain the movements.

\- Alright again! Bringing the tip of the blade to my neck and slash. - She instructed.

I followed her instructions and he exactly that and when I tried to slash, she effortless dodged it.

\- Very good, you did almost perfectly. - She complimented.

\- Thanks for teaching me that, it seems like a good move.

\- It is. It's called demon decapitation.

\- That's … a colorful name. - I said.

\- It's said that the Elf swordmaster Zachariah was able to cut off the heads of 100 opponents using that move.

\- That´s seems … a bit exaggerated.

\- It is, it was probably just one person and the story got exaggerated every time it got told. Well, we should get some sleep, it´s getting late. - She said before stenching.

\- Yeah we need to wake up soon If we want to get earlier to Illiasburg. I said. - Um Alice? How are going to sleep I only brought one bed pack and you didn´t brought your one.

\- I´ll just use my tail. - She responded. She laid down in the grass making a small circle with lower body using it has a makeshift bed and pillow. -My scales are smooth and comfortable enough, good night. - She said before turning away.

\- Well then, sweet dreams. - I said.

I took my bed pack and put it on ground, put myself inside of it close my eyes, thinking of what the next day holds for me compared to today and eventually fall asleep.

End of chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 : Interesting people, Interesting moments

I woke up with sunlight stinging my eyes, I got up, stretched myself and yawned.

\- Good morning. – I heard a familiar voice say, it was Alice, she was sitted in front of the campfire eating an apple.

\- Morning. – I responded back

I walked to her and sat next her and she handed me an apple.

\- What time is it? - I asked her.

\- By the position of the sun I would say ... past eight.

\- Damn that´s late, why didn´t you wake me up?

\- You we´re sleeping so profoundly I didn´t want to disturb you. Also you we´re mumbling during your sleep what we´re dreaming about?

\- I don´t know, I never remember my dreams. - I said before I started eating the apple

Except when I dream with my mother´s death.

\- I can´t wait to get to Illiasburg, we can go to Sutherland Inn and eat ama-ama Dango´s.

\- Suthalent It? – I said with my mouth full of chewed pieces of apple

\- Don´t talk with your mouth full. – Alice said with an annoyed look

I swallowed the pieces of apple. - Sorry, what inn are you talking about?

\- The Sutherland Inn, it's famous for its ama-ama dangos. – She awnsered.

\- How do you know that? Yesterday you said you didn´t know anything about this continent? – I asked her

\- I know it from this book. - She took an old looking small book from one of her breast pockets, holding it with a proud lool. - This little beauty has everything about this continent.

\- Can I see it? – I asked.

\- Sure. - She handed me the book and I started to going through the pages, old and battered like the cover with a faint smell of dust. The first thing I noticed was the date of the book inicial publishing - 586 A.I? Alice, this book is over 500 hundred years old! Most of these locations don´t exist anymore and it says here that the Sutherland Inn is in … Iliasberth?

\- Oh. Maybe they changed the name for burg at some point. C´mon let's get going, the sooner we reach it the better. – She said with a hopeful smile.

I sighed. - Alright let´s pack everything and get moving.

We packed our things, I packed at least, Alice just threw her apple away. We start following the road onward to our destination, it only took a few minutes until we got out of the forest, the seemingly endless row of trees replaced with tall grass with only trees in some places and the road becoming more detailed but still no Iliasburg on sight. It wasn´t long before I got bored with the silence and decided to strike a conversation.

I turned my head and asked: - So Alice how does monster society works? You mentioned crops yesterday so I'm guessing there´s monster villages?

She turned her head to me and said: Of course there are monster villages, they work pretty much like human ones, a small number of close agro-economic settlements, usually the same race under the administration of said specie´s queen. ``

\- A queen? - I asked confused –So the monster kind has several monarchies?

\- They´re not the same thing has human queens. – She explained. - They don´t rule a country per say, usually its just a few close villages. They´re the leaders of their respective race, usually the strongest in the battlefield of their kind so that they can protect their races in times of war, and when not on war they usually upload the law and justice.

\- And what about the monster lord? – I asked

\- What about her? - Alice asked with a puzzled look.

\- What´s her role in all of this?

She responded with a tone that sounded like she had repeated that phrase many times. - Her role is similar to an actual human monarch, the absolute indisputable sovereign that rules over the monster kind and is, by tradition, hereditary to the oldest born daughter, one of the differences from a queen is that instead of just a few settlements the monster lord rules over most of Hellgondo.

\- What´s a Hellgondo?

She looks at me with a razed eyebrow. - You don´t know much about geography do you? Hellgondo it's the northern most continent in the known world and its where the majority of the monster kind lives .

\- Oh alright. And no, I don't know much about geography, so are there humans in Hellgondo or is just monster kind all the way up there?

\- Of course there are humans there! What a silly question. Yes there are human in Hellgondo or else there wouldn't be much of the monster kind in there, most of the human populace are descendant of slaves.

I stopped walking surprised by those words - Hold on?! They have slavery? The monsters use slaves? – I asked astonished with this new information.

\- What? No, I wasn´t clear, what I meant to say is that their descendants of freed slaves from the free marches. Do you know about the cities of the free marches?

Yes, I actually been told about them. The church says they practice slavery and ritual sacrifices and they are the ultimate sin or something but besides that nothing else.

\- Well I don´t know if they do sacrifices but they do practice slavery, and they have a long history of raiding monster villages because they consider us exotic - She said while doing quote gestures and a face of disgust – So trough out history my people responded by attacking slavers operations and incited rebellions in their slave caste so they joined us and settled in Hellgondo.

\- Oh alright, sorry that I jumped to conclusion. – I said a bit ashamed from my outburst and started walking besides her again, and Alice started her own round of questions.

\- I´m surprised that you know those sort of things about the free marches, you don´t seem like the religious devoted type.

I shrugged. - I am not. I mean; we have a church in the village but the current priest isn´t exactly the type of person that goes around preaching the word, he actually was more of the village carpenter, he would tell about stories and religious texts if someone asked but to tell the truth people in the village didn´t exactly care much about who created the word, we´re mostly farmers we just want plentiful crops to keep our kids fed.

\- I guess that makes sense. – She said, then a smile formed in her lips. - Speaking of religion, do you know what deity the cities of the marches worship?

-No. - I answered. - Which is it? I don´t know any deities besides Ilias.

-The lady of light. – She answered.

\- The lady of light? What´s that?

\- Its Ilias.

That made me stop in my tracks again I looked at Alice grinning and I responded with a smile - You´re just messing with me aren't you, very funny.

\- No I meant it's the same one, the description is the same, some of the stories are similar even exact copies, their dogma is just different. – Alice explained

-Their dogma? – That was a word I´ve never heard before.

\- It means belief, opinion or religious ideology. - She explained.

\- Oh. We´ll I guess I just learned a new word, still really?! That´s a bit life shaking. But wait! If it is the same religion why are the free marches so hated by the church?

\- Even people who follow similar beliefs won't always get along, that´s just how life works. – She said while shrugging.

\- That's a shame. – I said. - Maybe if they stopped slavery they could get along with the church and … uh. That´s weird.

\- What? - Asked Alice.

-That plant over there. - I said while pointing to a plant right in the middle of the road, about half meter in height with some weird looking leaves. I walked to it, studying the leaves trying to recognize it without success. - Doesn´t look like any kind of plant from around here.

\- Who cares? It just a plant. - Said Alice sounding a bit frustrated. - Come on, we still have a long way to whatever its name is.

I give up trying to identify it. – Fine, let´s get going.

We kept going for a few more hours until finally we met it sight of Iliasburg, it looked like it had grown a bit since I came here years ago,when I was still just a child. Back when my mother was still alive. Back when I still had a family.

No that´s not true. – I thought. – I still have a family, Betty and others that helped me back in the difficult times.

\- Finally where here! - Said Alice with enthusiasm. - I can´t wait to check in the Sutherland Inn and eat dangos, I´m starving.

Suddenly I realized something. - Alice? I don´t think this town is very accepting of monsters now that I think of it. How exactly are we going to get you inside a local inn? - I asked.

\- That´s easy. – She said with a smile. - Just watch. - She clapped her hands, mumbling something and was covered bright light and when it was over she had changed, her long red tail replaced by a pair of normal looking legs and feet, her purple skin replaced by an almost pale tone of skin and her horns gone the only oddity remaining has her hair color and flower, I could just pass by her and not even notice her.

\- Wow! How did you do that? Is it some kind of illusion? – I asked

\- Nope. Advanced magic transformation, it's all real, here. – She put one of her legs in the top of a small rock. - Touch it and see it for yourself.

I touched her leg just to amuser her, it felt smooth to the touch and almost hairless. - Looks good. - I said while nodding. - Its human approved. – I said jokingly.

\- But wait, there´s more. - She then retrieved a pair of leather sandals and putted them on. - Ta Da. She said. - Now we can infiltrate.

We made our way through the main gate without any problems, only a guard standing by and I don't think he even noticed us, we made our way through the street, its surrounding building bringing me a hint of familiarity.

\- So Alice? - I turned my head in her direction - You know there´s a high possibility that inn you´re looking for isn´t around anymore, and neither the food you want I mean that book you have is ancient so the odds are not in your favor.

She looked at me and said: - Be more positive. Besides, even if there isn´t one anymore we can still find bed and food in a town this size. Once she said her face grimed. - But still, even after weif we some food I still have a problem.

\- What problem is – ow! – I said before being interrupted by being pushed to the side by someone running. - Hey watch were you´re going! – I protested.

The person running turned around and said: - Sorry! I am in a rush, there's a dragon fighting a bunch of self proclamed heroes in the marketplace and she kicking theirs asses. - He then resuming his run.

\- Huh, wonder what´s a dragon doing in this continent? You want to check it out? - I asked Alice.

\- Yes, I´m curious too. - She answered.

We made our way to the market place and we saw out all the commotion was about. In the center of the market surrounded by people most of them in awe, some with alarmed and angry looks, there was a ´´woman`` fighting a young man. When I got closer I took a better at said woman, she was dressed in plate armor and a helmet and using a single edged blue sword, her body appeared to be covered mostly in green scales and the rest included her face has cream skin color.

She kept parrying strikes from her opponent perfectly until she kneed him in the stomach and hitted him with the pommel in is face send him tumbling and ending the fight, she then turned to a group of armed men a few of them already looking like their already looked they had taken a beating, which we´re keeping their hands close to their weapons.

\- Is that all? - She boasted - You call yourselves heroes, steal, hurt and kill innocent people but when someone who can fight back comes around you lose your bravery, you are nothing but thugs and cowards.

People started to cheer and applauded her speech and thedragon woman turned around and smiled and made a bow. - Thank you, thank you you´re too kind. - Even I was starting to want applaud to.

\- Granberia? - I heard Alice say next to me. - What she´s doing here?.

\- Do you know her? - I asked her.

\- She´s one of the four heavenly knights. - She responded back.

\- What´s a heavenly knight? – I asked. Weird title, I wouldn´t exactly associate this warrior with heaven.

\- They´re the direct subordinates of the monster lord, the enforcers of her will, the strongest of our kind, Granberia herself is current the strongest swordsman of monster kind. - She explained. No wonder she was kicking ass.

While Granberia was busy with all the praise, a large man with a double edged axe ran to her but before he could hit her, has by magic, she disappear and reappeared behind him, kicked him in the back of the knee making him lose balance and hitted him in head with the cross guard of the blade, ending the fight before it even begun. That caused more cheering and applaud, Granberia, again, smiled and made a bow.

Her next opponent dashed to her, sword in his hand, this time she simply parried and her opponent started to give fast strikes and Granberia kept parrying like it was nothing.

While the two combatants were engaged in their match another one came from behind the knight walking two them slowly and silently without her noticing, sword in his hand with the objective of stabbing her from behind.

I don´t know why I decided to get involved but I did, before he could strike I blocked him with my sword and pushed him away. - What the hell? Are you some kind of monster lover? – He asked surprised before lunging at me with a strike, quite sloppy may I had, which I dogged easily and used demon decapitation on him in way that didn´t killed him or injuring him severely, putting him out of the fight in one move.

\- How the hell do you know that move? - I turned around and saw Granberia looking at me, a small hint of shock in her face, her opponent was lay down on the ground, already beaten. - That was a cursed sword technique, how do you know it? – She asked me with a demanding tone.

\- I was taught. – I awnsered truthfully.

-By who? - She asked with the same tone. Meanwhile, another ´´hero`` tried to do the same sneaky move and got punched by Alice sending him spiraling.

I taught him, ´sup Grabby? – said Alice.

Granberia turned her head around her mouth went wide open, trying to find her words.

\- You? You, You … - She looked around noticing everyone staring. - You … um human acquaintance and nothing else, yes nothing else. – She said sounding a bit nervous.

\- Uau really smooth Granberia. - Mocked Alice.

\- Whatever, what the hell you doing here Alice? - asked the Knight.

\- Travelling. - She responded.

\- Travelling. What? - She asked perplexed.

Suddenly the conversion was interrupted by a man in a guard uniform being followed by others in guard uniforms as well. - Alright people break it down, break it down the show´s over get back to what you are doing! - He shouted and people started leaving some commenting about what had just transpired. He then walked to the group that had just fought Granberia.

\- Well, well I wouldn´t believe it if I hadn´t seen in it with my own eyes, look at you wankers finally got what you deserve, include you Jacky. - He said while ruffling the hair of the large man with the axe. - Alright guys, take these idiots to jail, a night there so they can think about what they done. - He told to his colleagues and they started taking the ´´heroes ``away.

\- What about them? - whined one of them while pointing at us. - The green bitch attacked us.

He got slapped in the face. - Mind your fucking manners. She beat you all fair and stare, she could fuck you guys with her sword for all I care.- Some of his coworkers laugh at that remark. Then we walk to us.

\- You three. Beating those idiots it's all fine and dandy but I don´t want you causing any more trouble like that am I clear? - He said with an ordering tone.

\- You don´t need to worry about me I´ll be leaving. - Said Granberia.

\- And were just here for the Inn. – Said Alice.

\- Alright, enjoy the rest of your evening. `` - He said and just left us like there was nothing weird with the situation.

-So Granberia? - Alice asked with her arms crossed, intended in resuming the conversation. - - What are you doing here?

\- Well I has told that there were problems with the ´´heroes`` around here, harassing defenseless people, our people.

\- Oh? And did the monster lord authorized this? - Asked Alice with a smirk.

\- I can´t believe that you asked me that. But no, y-she didn´t authorize me, I came here on my accord, besides what I have been told appears to have been slightly exaggerated, and after what just happened here I think they´re going to be a bit demoralized. So, what about you? You´re traveling with a kid? ``

\- Hey! I am not kid, I'm already eighteen! I´m just short. - I said.

\- Be quiet, interrupting other people conversation is rude. - Said Alice. - Yes he´s my travelling companion and I taught him that move.

\- May I ask why you taught him that? – Granberia asked

Alice shrugged. - He made me dinner.

Granberia rugged her templates and moaned. - Of course he did, so you´re going to be alright, traveling?

\- You know me Grabby I know how to take care of myself - Responded Alice.

\- Alright then I´ll leave you be, stay safe. – said the knight.

\- I will, see ya when I see ya. - Responded Alice.

-By Grabby. - I said. She looked at me glared, and said: Never call me that again. - And then she has involved in a green light and disappear.

\- Well that has fun - I said sarcastically.

\- Yep, now let´s go find the Sutherland Inn. - Said Alice.

\- Are you still on about that? - I asked her, but she ignored me and went to the nearest person she could find. - Excuse me? Could you tell me where the Sutherland Inn is?

I can´t believe that she still thinks that - Sure, just go through that street turn left and it's the last one in the street you can´t missed it, it's the only one with three floors.

No way.

\- Thank you. - She returned to me and said: See I told you it still existed.

I unsuccessfully tried to came up with an answer but give up and followed her and there it was the 500 hundred years old Inn. He entered it and it was damn beautiful inside, in fact it was a bit to garnish. Then I noticed the price. 20 gold for a room? For one night? I´ve never had that much money in my life.

-Good evening I´m the owner and receptionist of this fine establishment, what can I do for you? - Asked a middle aged woman.

\- Good evening we would like to rent a room for the night. - Said Alice.

´´Alice we don´t have enou… - before I could finish my setence the inn owner said: Wait are you the ones that kicked those heroes in the market place?

Yes that was us. – Alice said.

\- You were amazing back there! Tell you what, I´ll make a special promotion for you two, 30 silver pieces a room.

I must be the luckiest person the world. -Sure we´ll take it, one room please. - Said Alice. - And we would like some of your famous ama-ama dangos if you may. - She added.

I paid for our room, we didn´t need another room since it was enormous, much bigger than my entire house and we were served the fabled dangos.

-Here you go, the ama-ama dangos our specialty, you´re in luck that was last batch we can do for now, since the village that makes the honey is having problems with a harpy village close to it.

\- There´s a harpy village close by? - Asked Alice.

\- Yes, apparently it was a formed a few weeks ago, don´t know anything else about it, well enjoy your meal. - The waitress left us to our meal and Alice reverted back to her lamia form and took her armor of, leaving her skirt, under the armor she had a low cut cotton shirt which showed a nice amount of her cleavage and also showed the tattoos that she had in her arms which had a bit of muscle, not as pronounced has Granberia but noticeable.

He started eating our dango´s which were quite sweet and delicious, probably the sweetest thing I´ve ever eaten. Since we were having this moment of peace I decided to ask Alice about Granberia. - So Alice, how do you meet Granberia? It was pretty obvious you guys from your conversation that you two met before.

She looked at me for a few seconds before answering. - Yes we met before in … my village of course! A village of lamias that´s where I came from. Yep, a village of lamias, she went there one day and she is a swordsman and I like swords so we talked and got along and that was it.

\- So how is your village like, how are your parents like? - I asked.

\- Can´t talk, eating. - She answered, avoiding my question. Maybe it´s a touchy subject for her? I can understand that.

We eventually finished our meals, satisfied with it.

\- Ah that hit the spot. - Said Alice. - But I still have a problem and I´m going to need your help with that.

\- What do you need my help with? - I asked back.

\- Well I don´t have access to surrapa so I´m going to need your help with that.

\- How could I help you with – wait you can´t mean… - Before I could finish she wrapped her tail around me and holed a finger to my lips.

\- Hear me out before you say anything else, one: I´ll give you a hand job, two: you own me so since I taught you that technique and three: If you agree I´ll teach you more techniques. How´s that? You have nothing to lose.

I thought about her a deal for a moment and then I looked back at her. - All right I will let you do that, but, be gentle please?

\- Don´t worry I will. - She says smiling and releases me from her tail. - Just take your pants off, lay in the bed and let me do all the work.

I did like she said and lied in the bed my heart beating fast and my penis exposed to the air twitching with anticipation from what was coming. Alice laid next to my side smiling, her eyes directed to my penis and started to rub my leg.

\- So the curtains matches the drapes. She said and I turned my head around, blushing from that commentary. She started to stroke my dick slowly, making me release a small moan and keeping a steady pace.

\- Well you seem to be enjoying it, you´re already fully erect. - She said with a seducing voice, the smell of honey in her breath.

She peeled the skin from the head of my penis and started to massage it with her thumb and stroking me harder increasing the pleasure I was feeling.

\- Hora, Hora, how does the touch of a woman feel? It must be quite different from your hand. - She said with the same seductive tone. I´m not going to lie, it was amazing.

She didn´t take much time in taking me to my limit ha a familiar feel buildup in my loins,I quickly came, dirtying Alice hand and my legs. I stared at the ceiling feeling the effects of my orgasm, feeling a strange sensation in my legs, I looked at them and saw Alice liking the parts where my semen had landed.

She licked her lips and said: - This is good quality semen, must be all the manual work. I want a bit more.

\- W-what? - I asked, still a bit dazed.

\- I want a bit more, you´re not going to deny me now aren´t you? - She asked me with a potty face.

\- No go right ahead. - I said, sweet Ilias, she was cute.

She started stroking me again, this time she didnt got the same reaction has before. - What´s the matter Luka? Is your little friend getting tired? Don't worry I´ll fix that.

She raised my shirt and started to caress my chest with her free hand, are other kept stroking my penis and moved her head close to my neck and started kissing it making me shudder and It didn't took long before my penis reacted as expected.

\- There you go, good as new - she removed her hand from my chest and started to massage my ball sack while leaving butterfly kisses in my chest. I closed my eyes enjoying the pleasure she was giving me, and soon I felt the same familiar feeling. A few moments late I came again. I laid there huffing, feeling the effects of my orgasm again.

\- Ah, I feel so much better now, thanks Luka. - Alice said looking happy with herself after eating my semen. - I´m still a bit hungry, for actual food I mean, I´m going to see what else is there to eat in here.

And so she left me alone in that oversized room in my afterglow, I can only think of one thing.

That was awesome.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Four kids and two assholes.

\- So what do you think Alice? Maybe chainmail or leather like yours? - I asked her while browsing the armor stand. We decided to take a look at what the weapons and armor shop had to offer before going to the marketplace to get some supplies. I was interested in getting a new attire since what I have is just plain clothes and some protection would be good.

\- Doesn´t look like there isn´t anything your size, everything´s too big for you. - She commented. She has right, the curse of being short, good for playing hide and seek has a kid not so great when you grow up. - And don´t get me started one those plate sets, you would poke somebody´s eye out with all those spikes! You wouldn´t even be capable of moving in that. – She complained. - She then grabbed a thick piece of cloth, analyzed it, sniffed it. - Here, this looks like your size and it even has a faint enchantment. – She said handling it to me

The shopkeeper noticed our conversion and commented: - That's a good choice, that there is a Enrikan shirt, from a small village called Enrika in the farthest southwest point of the continent. we don´t usually have much trading with it since it´s so far away and people there are a bit reluctant with outsiders, still they ´ve done good quality items like that shirt, it´s as durable has good quality leather, it´s just a shame people ignore it for more impressive looking sets.

I took a better look at the shirt I was holding, it looked quite plain nothing special about, the material did seem like it was good quality and the stitches were well done. . Mind if I try it? - I asked the shop owner. - Go ahead. - He responded with a smile.

I put the shirt on and moved my arms, felling no change in my movements meaning it would hinder me down. - How much does it cost? - I asked. - 8 silver pieces. - He responded, still smiling. That was cheap, maybe he just wanted to sell it to anybody who wanted it, i tought. But, it is of good quality so, I paid for my new attire and we left the store and made our way to the marketplace, toget supplies for our journey. During that I decided to ask Alice something that been on my mind since I woke up.

\- Alice? About what happened last night… - I asked. Alice quickly responded. – Look. - She sighed. - I was hungry and desperate, don´t expect me to do that again.

\- So, you won´t be doing that after every meal? – I asked. – She snorted. – Only in your dreams. – She responded with a mocking tone.

\- But you still going to teach me more techniques right? You promised!

\- Yes I promised and I will, in fact… - She stopped walking and said: - Why don´t you go without me? Meet me outside the city once you´re done and buy me a pork sausage, I´m in a mood for pork sausage, here. - She handled a few pieces of silver and left me for my shopping.

I went to marketplace to get our supplies noticing some people whispering while looking at me on the way, not that I care much. I bought some salted beef, carrots, onions, celeries, turnips and condiments, and of course Alice´s pork sausage, I couldn´t forget about that.

Once I was done I started walking to the town gate to meet with Alice and stopped to double-check if I had everything and heard a conversation happening just around the corner.

\- This is bullshit! They can´t do this to us! – Said an angry voice

\- Calm down. – Said another voice.

\- Calm down? How the hell are supposed to make a living if the church isn´t going to give us money? I don´t know if you forgot, but we need money for food, drink, room renting and whores and those old idiots in the church aren´t going to give us any because of that green abomination yesterday.

\- Look calm down, I have a friend in Ilias Kreuz who gave me some information.

\- What´s the information?

\- Apparently two miles west from the town, close to the river, a group of monster´s has a lair somewhere close, monster kids.

\- And how is that any help for us?

\- Let me explain. We go there, we find them, kill them, we bring their heads to the priests and they showered us with gold.

What? They´re going to kill children for money?

\- You actually think that's going to work?

\- C´mon, those old farts have their heads so far up their asses, they won´t even care if their children, besides who cares about some monster spawn? ``

\- Yeah, ok let´s do this, and then we can spend the rest of the day drinking so we can forget yesterday´s.

\- That´s the spirit.

They stopped talking and started walking away, unaware of my eavesdropping. I looked around the corner and saw the two walking way in the direction of the gate, once they were out of sight I run to meet with Alice to tell her what I had just heard. I found her not very far away from the gate next to some bushes. - Hey Alice I have… - I started saying before being interrupted.

\- There you are, I have something to give you well, borrow would be the right word. - She took one off her weapons from her back and handed it to me. - I noticed during your fights that you´re avoiding mortally wounding your opponents, so I´m lend you own of my swords, the angel halo. – She said and handled me said weapon.

Sword isn´t exactly what I would call it, it looks more like someone has making a sculpture and then realized they were supposed to be making a weapon and added a blade and a hand guard and called it a day, looking like a bunch of small metal angels sculptures fused together across the edge, red eyes with green irises sculpture in the central ridge and a circular blade in place of the tip, I guess that´s where the halo in the name comes from. This thing looks like something a rich person would use has decoration if they had no taste.

\- This is a sword? - I asked her in disbelieve. - Yes, when you strike somebody with it, it eats the magical energy from that person, come on, let me show you. - She responded. She took me a few meters, behind the vegetation, in the ground there has a circle with symbols drawn on it and a worm in the center. - Here, let's get you a bit of practice. - She said. I looked at the worm wiggling in the ground and back at her and asked: - How is this supposed to help me pratice?

\- Just give me a second. - She responded. She then put her hands together in form of a circle and mumbled something, and the worm in the circle started to glow and grew until it became has big has me. I took a step back, my mouth wide open.

\- Go ahead try it on, the spell only last five minutes. - She said. Looked at her and closed my mouth and got into position to start the ´´fight``. The angel halo felt light in my hands, lighter than my sword, I started hitting the worm getting used to swinging my new weapon, the worm simply wiggled. Eventually after enough hits the worm returned to its original size in a cloud of smoke.

\- There you go, easy to use isn´t? - She asked while finishing her sausage. - Hitting your opponents with the angel halo leaves them tired and in the case of monsters enough hits will seal them in a lesser form but only temporary.

It can do all of that? Where did she get a weapon like this? - Now come on, I want to go to the happy village``. She said smiling and licking her lips probably thinking of the honey.

Suddenly I remember what I was supposed to say. - Wait. We can´t go there. - I said. Alice looked at me with a confused look. - Why not? – She asked. Happy village is just two hours away and easy to find.

\- No it´s not that, while is in the town I heard two guys planning to kill monster kids that live somewhere around here to gain favor with the local church. – I explained

She looked at me her eyes wide open. - What?! Why the hell didn´t you told me sooner? - She asked, angry. - I got distracted with all this we just did. I answered It wasn´t a good excuse but it was the truth.

Alice grunted. - Whatever, do you at least now where they were going? – She asked

\- They said something about a lair close to a river two miles west of here. - I responded

\- Let´s get there fast before something bad happens. – She ordered.

We made our way to the place where we thought we could find the would-be-murders, the sound of the river close to us. - Alright, any idea where those thugs could be? - Alice asked me while were walking. - No idea I just heard them said it was somewhere around here. - I responded.

\- Damn it, that´s not helpful enough, for all we now … oh. - Alice stopped talking and walking and started to look around, her large ears twitching.

\- What? What is it? – I asked her.

\- I can hear two voices just ahead of us, male voices. Let's hide in between the vegetation so they don´t notice us. We made our way through the trees and got closed enough to them without being noticed. - Is that them? - Alice asked me. It was them alright, the two men, they were both armed with small wooden club with iron rings on it and dressed in padded armor.

\- Yes, that´s them. – I awnsered. - What do you think we should do? - I asked her and she turned her head to me. - We obviously going have to make them leave, what you think we should do about her she said poiting at something behind me. I looked behind me and saw a girl hoping on the road, carrying a basket, she had a horn in her forehead and little fangs coming out of her mouth.

I quickly grabbed her and dragged her behind the trees. She started to panic, flailing her limbs. - Quiet or they will hear us. – I whispered to her and she looked at me with a scared and confused look.

\- Did you hear something? - One of the man said asked to the other. - Um, no? Come on let´s kill those kids so we can get money from the church. – Said the other. They started walking away not noticing they were being spied. - Alright kid, got tell your friends to hide and don´t let them see you. - I let her go and she runned away further into the trees.

\- So what do you want to do about those guys. - Alice asked me. I shrugged my shoulders and said: Let´s just beat them up. - I responded. Alice looked at me with a dead panned face. - Really? So what was the point of hiding?- She asked.I didn't answer her. I just walked to the two armed fellows.

\- Hey! Stopped right there you … criminal scum! - I shouted at them and they turned to me with surprised looks. - I´m not going to let you kill innocent children. They looked at each other, one of them shrugged and walked to me.

\- Look brat, I don´t know how you heard about our plan but … wait a second, your that one kid, the one helping the dragon. - He grinned and grabbed his club. - But this time you don´t have that bitch to help you. Time to teach you a lesson monster fucker.

I unsheathed the angel halo and got in position, he swung his club in an attempt to hit me and I naturally dogged, I don't think my new attire would be affective at stopping blunt weapons and neither my skull. I kept dodging his strikes ´´dancing`` around him studying his movements, once I got an understanding of his movements I started hitting him and he grunted in pain for every hit he received.

It wasn´t long before his movements started to became sluggish and he started to struggle with the task of keeping his weapon raised. I decided to finish the fight, by slashing him in the jaw and kicking him in the crotch and he fell to ground, clutching his family jewels.

\- I yield … I yield. No more. He said grunting in pain. He was down, it just is friend now. Why didn´t he helped his friend?

-You bitch! You broke my nose! – That was my answser. Alice, in her human form was standing over the other guy, lying in the floor his hand on his nose, bleeding. - Let that be a lesson, leave now before I decide to stop being merciful. - Alice responded with an angry tone. I looked back at the one next to me and said:´You heard the lady, both of you leave and don´t you dare hurt anyone.

Both men left running, the one I fought barely being able to sprint do to the angel halo effects.

\- Well, we should see if that kid is alright. - I commented. - Why? - Alice asked. - I´m sure she´s fine.

\- Yeah but I want to make sure that she´s alright, I mean she could have been killed. – I responded. -Well you go, I need to go wash my hand, got blood on it. - She left me, going in the direction of the river. I went through the part where that girl disappeared in to and after a few meters I found a tree house.

\- Hello, is anybody up there? - I asked loudly and was answered with a tomato hitting me in the face. - Take that you meanie. - Said a girl with scales on the tree house next to other three girls, one of them was the one I had met. - What was that for? - I asked, removing the tomato bits from my face. - That´s just a warning, you can´t get in here - A girl with a cape answered. - You can´t hurt us! `` Said another girl with purple hair.

\- I´m not going to hurt anyone I just – whoa. - I dodged another tomato. - Stop that!

\- No! - One of them said and they all started to throw tomatoes and I started to dodge them. - Why do you have so many tomatoes? - I said and ducked a red object. - You just threw something hard at me.

\- Go away, we don´t like you. – Said one of them.

\- Yeah you suck. - said another one.

\- Hi mommy. - said the girl with the horn.

Mommy? What? - So this is where all the tomatoes went. - I heard a voice behind me and turned around. There was a woman looking at the tomatoes in the ground. She looked like the girl with the horn down to the hair, eyes and skin tone, except she was taller, had an older looking face and more curvy.

\- Gob, get down here, you´re grounded and you three get down too, your parents need help in their chores. - She said in an ordering tone and the kids descended from the tree house complaining. - And apologize to the boy for causing him trouble. - She ordered again.

\- We´re sorry. - They said all together not sounding very apologetic. - It´s okay. – I responded.

\- Alright kids back to the village. - She turned to me and said: There´s a river close by where you can clean yourself. - The woman said and started to walk away with the kids following her, and they left my sight shortly.

\- You´re so evil making little girls get in trouble. I heard Alice talk behind me. I turned around. - They were the ones who started throwing tomatoes at me. - I responded.

\- If you´re done playing we can, oh hello. – Alice interrupted herself and grabbed an object in the ground, a red smooth orb. She looked at the orb with amusement. - What´s something like this doing here?

\- You know what that is? - I asked her

\- It´s part of a magic item set, but without the other five it´s useless. - She said. - Oh well, finders keepers.

\- I think it belongs to those kids. - I commented. Alice looked at me with a small grin. - Well, think of it has your reward for saving that one kid. ``

\- Even through you´re the one keeping it? - I asked her.

\- Yes, now come on I want to go to the happiness village. - She answered.

\- Fine, why do you want to go to the happiness village anyway? – I asked.

\- It´s close to the harpy village so I was thinking I could get some surrapa.

\- That's actually a good idea. - I said

And so we made our course to the happiness village hoping that we wouldn´t have anymore distractions.

A later time of the day, in an unknown location.

The pain in his fingers has awful, that man had kidnapped him after they were beaten by the monster fucker and the other bitch when he returned to the town and was in the process of torturing him about Ilias Kreuz, already ripped two of his finger nails in his right hand.

\- Let me explain to you again how this goes. - Said the man while holding a thin knife. - I keep reaping all your fingers nails from your hands, then your feet and then I cut your tiny little dick if you don´t tell me where the location of the Kreuz headquarters is in this continent is, how many members and their names.

He didn´t answer. - Fine. Let's continue. - Said the man his expression unchanged. He put the knife under the finger nail and started to raise the blade making pressure against the nail.

The failed hero hissed in pain before responding. - Iliasport, they´re in the Illiasport, second house in the left of the entrance, three people, I don´t know they´re names, they never told me! Please don´t hurt me anymore! – He plead, tears running through his face.

\- Was that so hard? There wasn´t a need for all of this wasn´t it? - The man walked away and started to pack is ´´tools``.

\- I, I have friends in the church and Ilias Kreuz and once they know about this they´re g-going to hunt you down. - The man walked to him, now with a sword in his hand and asked: Did your friends in lias Kreuz ever told you about a man called Lazarus? - The young man simply shaked his head and the man said: Well if they had tell you this is the part where you would be pissing yourself. - He then trusted his sword into his victim chest, killing him instantly.

\- There, another Kreuz scum dead. Said Lazarus to no one in particular. I swear one day I´ll kill all of them and avenge your death Marcellus. - Lazarus then left the body to be found when it´s smell became a nuisance for the locals.

End of chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Author Note: This chapter was originally going to wrap up the rest of the story in the Ilias continent, but I decided to seperate it in two chapters.

Enjoy.

Chapter 4: The birds and the bees.

After the whole business with the would-be-child killers we made our way to the Happiness Village so Alice could get her drink. Naturally less than midway, I started to ask her questions about monster society.

\- So, there´s no such thing as male monsters? – I asked her.

\- No monsters male are just a myth, there are normal human males birthed from monsters which are rarer than a normal monster birth, and they might get have some physical resemblance with their mothers but that´s it. - She answered. Another myth from the church debunked it seemed. - How rare are male births compared with females? - I asked her again.

She looked at me with a frown. - I don't know. 1 in 5 maybe? Humans born in monsters villages are always lower in number than the monsters living on it.

I made a humming noise thinking about those words. - You think that harpy village being so close to a human village is because they´re looking for males? - I asked her.

\- That´s a possibly, I know that a few years back the harpies were a raiding army under their queen, maybe they got a new one and the decided to settle some roots, a society based solely on raiding wouldn´t be exactly stable. - She answered.

\- How do you know that? – I asked her. She took a moment to respond. – Oh you know, word spreads out and so-so. - She said

Oh, alright. Let´s just hope they´re peaceful. - I said.

We eventually reached the village, the position of the sun telling us that we took a bit above two hours to get here, fortunately nothing happened to slow us down on the way. The only oddity was a harpy bartering (terribly) with a bee girl. Happiness Village itself wasn´t nothing special, bigger than Ilias Village and was mostly farms and with bee hives in some of them. The only strange thing is that there weren´t many men around, most were children and old ones and some in their thirty´s and above, and barely any men in their late teen and twenty.

I went to a random woman passing by and asked: - Excuse me, do you know where´s a store around here? – I asked. Yes, at the end of the path, fourth building in the right with the sign you can´t miss it. – She explained. Are you a traveler? - She asked. - Um, yes we heard about a harpy village around here and wanted to check it out. – I said.

She laughed. - That's what you´re were for? It's a ten minute walk east from here, and if you're looking for easy money the elder has a job about the harpy´s that needs to be done, it's the house with a front porch and white fence down the road if you´re interested. - She said and walked away.

\- Hey Alice, you want to check what this job is about? Maybe get some information about the harpy´s? - I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders. - Sure, it´s like there isn´t anything else to do around here.

We walked to the house indicated to us and found it, a old woman was sitting in a rocking chair next to a table with refreshments in the porch. I walked to her and greet her. - Good afternoon ma´am, we heard there was a job about the harpy village around here? - I asked her hoping to get a answer. She smiled and said: Good morning, yes, yes, there is a job yes, sit down. - We sat in the two other chairs circling the table.

\- Would you two like some lemon juice? - She asked.

\- No thanks, I don´t like lemons. - I said.

\- I´ll take some. - Said Alice.

She serve a cup with juice to Alice. - So about the job, what do you know about the harpies? - Asked the elder.

\- All I know is that the village is having trouble with the harpies from the village that suddenly appeared. - I answered. - It´s not exactly trouble, the harpies are going around seducing the young and single men in the village and taking them into their village to mate with them and when they´re done they pay with silver and send them back. - She said while pouring juice into her cup.

\- So they ´re paying your men to make babies with them? - I asked. She nodded. - That´s unusual. - I said.

\- Not really, it's a normal thing that monsters do. Pay outsiders that come to their villages to mate so they can have kids since there´s a big difference in the female-to-male ratio of most villages. Monster villages I mean. So I heard - Said Alice while putting her cup down. Well, that was an interesting piece of trivia, I thought.

\- Well anyway, that's not really the problem, we don´t mind that their mating with our men since they´re not hurting them or forcing them and they comeback with money in their pockets and with good disposition to work with, the problem is the fact that their village has not made any attempts to communicate with us and we don´t know if they will be peaceful with us and so we need someone to deliver a letter to their leader which apparently is a queen to invite her to talk. – The elder explained.

\- Wait, if the men from the village go and come back why do you need to employ an outsider? - I asked her. Her face turned into a frown. - Well we tried to do that but they can´t keep their pants long enough. – She explained. Alice laughed. - So, employing an outsider isn´t a bad idea assuming you can keep your pants up, and we really just need one person to deliver the letter so…

Alice got up and said. - Well Luka is the man for the job I´m just going to get some of the local honey, thank you for the drink. Try to deliver the letter before starting making babies. – She then got out of the porch and walked away. I will. Deliver the letter I mean I´m not going to make babies. - I said to Alice has she walked away. I turned to the elder. - So, can I get the letter to delivery it? – I asked. The elder took a sealed letter from her pocket and gave it to me. - Just go east and you will find it easily. - She explained.

I got out of the village a made my way to the harpy settlement easily since somebody already made a dirt road connecting the villages, in the way found two villagers returning home, talking about their ´´conquests``. I guess getting laid really does make people happy.

The harpy village itself was quite different compared with the standard human village, the houses were round wooden huts on large trees most of them devoted of foliage except the tips of the branches, connect to witch other and the ground with wooden bridges and stairs. There were some farming fields filled with wheat, several types of vegetables and some kind of tall purple plant I´ve never seen before. Guess they came here to settle.

I made my way to what seem like the most obvious house that queen would be, the largest hut occupying one of the trees alone with flags adorning it and what appear to be a guard standing to the entrance. I made my way to that hut noticing the ´´locals``, most of them not even caring about me, mostly harpies and a few humans saying farewell to their partners and vowing to return. Saw the interior of one the huts and there was a young man pounding a harpy from behind not caring if they were being watched. The most impressive thing was the harpy toddlers, little adorable balls of fluff walking around, keeping close to their parents. There were also some human children, too young to have been brought from happiness village and too old to be related to someone from the happiness village. Guess they came with the rest of the harpies which would make sense because if they´ve been kidnapping children there wouldn´t be exactly a chance for diplomacy.

I made my way to the fancy hut and has stopped by the guard at the entrance a tall harpy with brown feathers, armed with a spear and wearing armor. - Hold it right there. - She said. - This is the queen home, you don´t have permission to get in. - I´m here to see the queen, its an important matter. - I said. She laughed. - The queen is way above your league, there´s other girls available in the village you can fuck, go search for them. - She made a wave motion for me to leave.

\- I have an important massage from the happiness Village for your queen. - I said raising my voice. The guard glared at me. - I don´t care what you want, I … - She was suddenly interrupting by a voice from inside the hut. - It´s okay Mary he´s expected, let him in. - The guard looked back at me and sighed. - You can go on in, the queen allows you. – She said and took a step to side to allow me entrace. – Cause any trouble with the queen and I´ll make you regret it. – She warned.

I went inside the hut, and there she was, the queen of the harpies. She was almost has tall has Granberia but unlike her she didn't give a sense of intimidation instead she gave an aura of grace, her wings covered in pink plumage and she has gorgeous with curves in all the right places and beautiful green eyes.

\- Good evening young man, you said you had a letter from the Happiness Village? - She asked me. I bowed my head in respect since she was queen and said: Yes, um, your grace, the village is concerned about your village sudden appearance - . I said and handled her the letter. She took it and I noticed the smell of perfume. - They don´t mind your people settling here and mating with their men, just concerned if you intent in being peaceful. - I added.

\- I´m glad they don´t have problems with us needing their men to put our population at a stable level. – She commented while reading the letter. - Well, it´s about time to start to make friends with the locals. – She said has soon has she finished reading the letter and went to the entrance door walking with a graceful walk even with those chicken legs and with those perfectly rounded hips swaging …

Come on Luka stay focus.

\- Mary go get Diana, I need to go to the neighboring village to talk with their leader.

Later, back in the happiness village.

\- And that was pretty much it, after that they flew to the village and I walked back. - I explained to Alice while she was drinking. We were sitting in a bench enjoying the rest of our afternoon. - See? You didn´t need me to hold your hand after all and I got my hands in some of the local honey and surrapa. Everything went fine. You want to taste it? - She asked me and brought her half-empty cup containing a light purple liquid, inches from my face. – i shrugged my shoulders. - Might as well. - I said. I and took the cup from her hand. I brought the cup to my mouth and slurped the liquid. It felt tasteless like water except it left a bittersweet aftertaste in my mouth.

\- It´s not that great. - I said handling her the cup back. - For you anyway. For me is like ice cold water after traveling a desert. - She said and resume drinking. I wonder where she got it since she didn´t even went with me to the harpy village.

\- Excuse me. - I heard a voice to my side and turned and saw the harpy queen. - I wanted to thank you and pay you for delivering me the letter. - She said and extended her hand wing with a few silver coins on it and I took them form her. - Thank you your grace. - I said. The elder had already paid me for delivering it but I´m not complaining about getting more money.

\- You are welcome. - She said and turned her head to Alice. - And you… - Oh I´m just a traveling gourmet. - Said Alice immediately with a smile. The harpy queen returned with her own smile. - Of course you are. Well I´ll leave you two to your business. Have a nice evening. - She then left us to return to her village. After that we rented two separate rooms in the local inn for the night.

The next day we resumed our travel to Illiasport, still having 3 days of travelling. On the first day was pretty calm. No problem with anyone and at end of the day we set camp, and Alice decided it was time to teach me another technique while the dinner has cooking.

\- Yes that it. Now lunge at me. - Alice said while parrying my strikes. I do like she instructed, making a fast step forward lunging at her with a trust, which she easily parried it. - Very good, you performed has expected. That technique is called Thunder Trust and it's the perfect technique to start at the beginning of a fight. - She explained. - Seems very useful. Thank you for teaching me. - I said and she smiled to me. - Does it have a story too? - I asked her.

´- It has one yes, it's said that Bloody Fernandez mastered this technique, and covered the battlefield with her bloody thrusts killing her enemies one after another, making a lake of blood and because of that the technique was called Blood Fissure Thunder Thrust. But just calling it Thunder Thrust sounds better and less gruesome. - She said. Whoever came with these stories sure had a colorful imagination.

\- So what about you? - She asked me. - What about me? - I asked her back. - I´ve been telling tales from my kind. Tell me a story from your people. - She said. So I told her during dinner the story that every kid in the village learned. The story of Heinrich, the hero that defeated the monster lord 500 years ago. ... And after he kills her in combat he lives happy ever after or something like that. And that´s pretty much how it goes. - I concluded.

\- And that story is in the Ilias manuscripts? - Alice asked me with a distrusted look. - Yep, page 268, verse um I don´t remember which verse but that´s how it's written there. - I answered her. - I´m surprised. I didn´t know the church of Ilias revered Heinrich has a hero. - She said. - Why would you? The church has a big animosity against the monster nations. - I said while finishing my dinner.

\- No I´m surprised because that´s the reason why Heinrich is revered has a hero in Monster kind history. - She explained.

\- He´s what now? - I asked her still trying to process what she had just said. - Yeah, he stood up to the eight monster lord which was a big tyrant, the kind that would torture someone for giggles, and a large number of clans joined him in rebellion. - She explained while twirling her extended index finger in the hair. - Short version, the rebel's won and the closest one by blood to the monster lord was putted on the throne since she didn´t had any daughters.

\- So, in this version did Heinrich fought the eight monster in a duel to the death? - I asked her still confused. - Well he did kill her according to historical records, but it wasn´t some single epic duel. It was in a battlefield with two armies fighting each other. - She added before drinking a bit of her beloved surrapa. - Aaah, refreshing.

\- Uau, that's very different point of view form the story. - I said. - Yeah, Ilias Church tends to bastardize things to fill up its ego. – Alice said . - Well, we should go to sleep so we can start travelling tomorrow early. - She said and went to an empty spot to lay down, this time with a pillow and a blanket.

\- Good night. - She said before turning her back to me. I decided that was also time to go to sleep and so I stuffed myself inside my bed pack, my last thoughts before falling asleep, was hoping that nothing else would temper with our journey, but of course that was a fool´s wish.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The foxes and the succcubus

\- It´s so hot! Why is it so hot? - I asked in annoyance between pants and huffs. We we´re travelling the day after the harpy situation, through a forest to reach Iliasport, the road has barely noticeable, we were simply going north until we could found the coast and meanwhile came a heat wave making our journey very sweaty and uncomfortable, the shade from the surrounding trees wasn´t very helpful against this infernal heat.

\- This heat is damn unpleasant. – Alice complained while she walked next to me. The heat had already made her take her armor to avoid having a heat stroke, in another situation I would be taking a few peeks at her cleavage but it was too hot for me to care about boobs. - Maybe we should just take our clothes of. - I said to her joking. - You would like that wouldn't you? - She said with a smile. - You can take your clothes if you want but it will make you a easy prey for some evil monster.

\- I could take them without any clothes and … Ilias darn it, it´s too hot to sass you. - I said and notice something next to a tree.

\- That´s weird. - I said.

\- What´s weird? - Alice asked me.

\- That. - I said pointing at what I think its a plant type monster if that bestiary I read once was correct, I guess there were two plant type connected to a single weird looking flower with large red petals and white spots, the bodies of the creatures connected to the flower by some kind of trunk and surrounded by green vines, the upper bodies resembling human women and limbless and some kind of antenna in their foreheads. The moment they noticed us they closed the flowers petals probably to avoid conflict.

\- Guess were not going to have problems with that one ... or ones. Hey what are you doing? - I asked Alice has she walked to the plant person. -I´m getting a snack. - She responded and took a dagger from one of her pockets and cut a piece of the plant petal. - You want a bit? - She asked me.

\- Isn´t that cannibalism or something close to it? - I asked her trying to avoid making a disgusted face. - What? No! She will grow it back without problem's and besides, plant monsters are know to sell their petals in communities due to their notorious valor. – Alice explained. - Let´s get going - She said and we resumed to our travel.

\- So how is that not cannibalism, you, ripping a part from her body and eating it? - I asked her. Alice sighed - It didn´t hurt her, plant monsters physiology is vastly different from other monster kind, and no it wasn´t cannibalism, the monster nations consider it taboo just like every proper civilization. - She explained while finishing her "snack".

\- Alright then aaaah! - I was suddenly grabbed by something from above and raised until the level of one of the lower branches and saw my "captor". She had a weird shaped body with a yellow and red color and purple tentacles for arms, some of them grabbing the tree branches and the rest grabbing me, she had a wide smile, in fact a smile too large for a human mouth, fully showing her sharp teeth's. - It's been a while since I was able to eat a human. You look quite tender. - She said with a sadistic tone and licking her lips.

I screamed and started to head-butted her. – Let! Me! Go! - I shouted at her awhile headbutting her, eventually it work,she lost her grip, making us fall. I got up immediately before she could do anything, unsheathed my Angel Halo and started to hit her non stop. - Die, die, die, die, die. - I screamed at her and during my hits suddenly she transformed into a tiny tentacle. Let that be a le ... – I was suddenly interrupted by Alice crushing it with her tail. - Ugh. Disgusting abomination. - She said. - Did – did you kill it? – I asked her. She raised her tail revealing the squashed body. – Good riddance. – Alice said with a grim face. – Let´s get going. – She said and turned around.

\- Why did you kill her? – I said with sadness in my voice. Alice turned to me. – You heard her. She said she ate humans. Consumption of either human or monster flesh is by law punishable by death. –She said. - What law? - I asked her. - The monster lord law, her word is absolute. - She answered back. – But she was defenseless! – I protested. – She was defenseless now, but after returning to normal, she would return to eating people. Then what? What would you do? – She concluded. – She was right. There is now way that the monster would change her ways just because it was defeated. – I guess you have a point. – I admitted. - Come on we have to keep walking while the sun is still up even with this heat. – Alice said and started slithering away. I sheathed my sword and run to her to keep with her rhythm.

Ilias damnit it's so hot.

2 days later

We finally reached Iliasport, the heat wave only lasted one more day making the rest of our journey more supportable.

\- It's so big and … blue. - I said looking at the ocean from the docks for the first time in my life, the only words I could come up with while observing its vastness and inhaling its foreign smell. I wonder how far all this water could extend. - It´s a beautiful sight indeed. Except for that eyesore in the horizon. - Said Alice while pointing at a black spot far outside in the sea.

\- What´s that? A storm? A … sea storm? - I asked her. - Yes it is. - She answered me. - If you squint hard enough you can see lighting on it. - I squinted trying to see it. - You´re right. That´s neat. We should see about hiring passage to Sentora while the day is young. - I said turning my back to the sea, making my way to the only ship that was docked, Alice walking at my side. - You know, that storm looks like it´s in the middle of the route to what has the name? Port Natalia? - She asked me. - Yeah that´s our destination. - I responded her. - Right. And since the only ship in the port is being currently repaired I would guess that the crew tried to face the storm and had to give up. - She concluded and she wasn´t wrong.

\- So, there´s is no way for us to get passage to Port Natalia? - I asked the ship captain sitting on a box just outside of his ship, smoking a pipe. - Not with that storm raging, lad. - Answered the captain, a man in is late 50´s with a face full of wrinkles and the eyes of a person who had seen a lot in life and arms thick has tree trunks. - That storm ain´t natural, lad. He said. - It rages like the sea having it´s moon blood and when we tried to cross it and the winds weakened just enough to not make us sink and pushed us back enough from the storm. Seen stuff like this before, monster elemental magic I would say. - He concluded. - How rash, to blame monsters for this situation. - Alice complained. - Beg my pardon, my lady, didn´t know a noblewoman like yourself would know so much about storms. - Responded the old sea captain, sarcastically.

\- I-I´m not a noblewoman what makes you think that? - Alice asked sounding nervous. The captain responded: I can tell from the way you were walking and your stand, you ´ve been taught high class manners. – The captain said with a smirk.

\- So, is there no real way for us to get to Port Natalia? - I asked him again, interrupting their conversation. There´s no way our journey could just end here. The captain looked back to me. - Look lad, the only way to pass through that storm would be with sorcery or something like a Poseidon bell. – He said. - What the heck is a Poseidon bell? - I asked him. - Hm? Oh, it´s a type of magic bells that an old civilization used to use to travel safety trough storms centuries ago, most of the bells are gone taken by the church and their magic bigotry, heard there´s one in a cave not far away, east of the town. - He answered.

\- What if we bring you this bell? Will you take us to Natalia Port? - I asked him. He started laughing. - Lad if you give me that bell I will give you two a ride for free. - He said after the laugh ceased, he then gave us to location of the cave on map. - If you're really serious in going there, be warned that are rumors of fox women that had gone to that very cave recently.

\- Fox women? - I asked him confused. - He means kitsunes, monster with ears and tails like foxes. - Answered Alice. - Oh. Alright. We'll be back with that bell, so long for now captain. - I said to the captain. – Yeah sure, good luck with that lad. - We said going back to smoking is pipe. We made our way to through the market to get the town´s gate. - Alice, do you want to take look to any of the stores? - I asked before we left the town. - There´s nothing interesting around here since the storm interrupted the sea trading routes so let´s just go to that cave. - She answered so we left the town and made our way east. But since we left midafternoon it got dark before we got to the location of the cave so we had to set camp close to the road. After dinner Alice decided to teach me how to meditate, so we sat down next to each other and started to meditate and I quickly became bored.

\- I´m done meditating. Hey Alice teach me a new technique. - I said turning my head to her. - You ´ve been meditating for less than five minutes. - She said with her eyes closed and an annoyed tone. - Yeah and I´m already focused and concentered to learn a new technique. Come on, just in case we meet hostile kitsunes I could use something new and unexpected. – I said with a smile. She opened her eyes and looked at me for a few seconds and then sighed. - Fine. Tell you what, I´m going to teach you a hand-to-hand fighting style. - She then changed to her human form and got up. - Alright pay attention to my movements and copy them.

Alice spend the next hour instructing me stances and movements and once I had them memorized we started a spar session. - Strike, strike, strike and hand palm. - She instructed while blocking all my strikes. - Now it's your turn to go into defense. - Block, block, dodge, dodge, and block. - She said while I followed her instructions, her last strike she made with her knee while blocked it with my own.

\- Well done you´ve performed all the movements almost perfectly, I´m impressed. - She complimented. I blushed. - Your being too nice, I wasn´t that good. - I said. - Does this fighting style has a name? - I asked her. - It´s the first tier of the tailless fox style, a fighting style invented by the kitsune kind of the yamatai region, its purpose is to fight without the use of their tails. - She explained. - No bloody backstory with this one? - I asked her. - No, no bloody backstory with this one. - She answered me. - I learned it form a kitsune actually, if you´re wondering how I know it. - I was actually wondering about that. - That´s that mean you ´ve been in this Yamatai place? - I asked her.

\- You and all your questions. – She complained. - Yes I ´ve been in the Yamatai region, that place is unique compared with every other place in the Sentora continent. – She said. - Maybe we should take a trip there at some point after we reach Natalia Port. - She suggested.

\- That´s seems like a good idea. - I said with a yawn, our previous exercise taking his toll on me. - It´s getting late, if you don't mind, I´m going to bed. - I told her. - Go right ahead, I´m just going to stay awake for a little bit more, and we don´t have that horrible heat anymore, so no problems sleeping today. - She said. - That´s true. Well, good night. - I said before getting into my bed pack and waiting for the sleep to take me.

The next day we found the entrance to the cave, less than an hour after we started the day. It didn´t look much like the entrance to a cave, the rock around it carved with sculptures of stories, cracked and dirty do to the years of negligent. It didn´t stopped Alice from examinating them with a glint of fascination in her eyes. - It´s definitely from the 2nd Atama Dynasty, the rulers of the Siten kingdom form around 110 years ago. - She said.

\- Hey, miss encyclopedia? Hurry up, we really need to get that bell. - I said at the entrance, getting her attention and she entered the cave with me, mumbling. Inside the cave, the light from outside only illuminating a few meters in front of us. It´s a good thing I bothered to bring a torch with me when I left home. I took the torch from my back pack. - Alice would you mind… - I asked her and before I finished she made sparks with her fingers and the linen in the torch started burning. Thanks. - I said. She gave a small smile in response.

We walked into the cave innards, noticing the worked stone on the walls with sculptures on it like outside, cracked and forgotten by time. - So, Alice what should we do if we find kitsunes? - I asked her. - Don´t worry. - She assured me. - Kitsunes are a peaceful people and reserved, they ´re not the type to attack without motive, besides I can smell them a mile away. - She responded with a proud smile. - Oh yeah? So what do kitsunes smell like? - I asked. - Thin fried tofu. - She answered.

I don´t get it.

\- You know this old place looks like it would be a classic case for ghost's apparitions. - I said trying to change the subjects. - Ghosts?! - Asked Alice. - Yeah like a lost soul looking hey! What are you doing? - I said has Alice wrapped around me. - N-nothing, you´re j-just to close t-to me. - She said trembling. - You´re the one who wrapped yourself on me, and I was just kidding about the ghost´s. - I protested. She released me from her bidding. - O-of course it´s was a joke. I knew that! Ghosts are so unscientific anyway. - She said, trying regain her composure.

\- What does unscientific even … - I stopped talking noticing something in a corner. - Hold on, I just saw something moving over there. – I said and Alice suddendly wrapped herself on me, tighter and started screeching next to my year. - Oh for Ilias sake! – I protested. Alice suddenly stopped her ear murder and sniffed the air, and freed me from her tail. - That´s not a ghost. - She said. - Sweet Ilias you scream like a banshee being tortured. - I complained. She wasn´t paying attention to me, instead her eyes making a bee line and sniffing the air like before. She pointed her index finger in front of her, a small glint appeared in the tip of her finger and a cloud of smoke appeared 3 meters in front of us, a girl standing in center.

\- Whaaaaat? How did you know where I was? - She asked panicking. The girl in front of us was short, shorter than me so, probably to be younger too, she had gray colored hair, was wearing a loose sleeveless type of shirt, with a purple article of clothing covering the stomach area and wearing sandals with socks, a weird combination. The most distinguish thing about her were the two large ears in her head and the two fluffy tails behind her, marking her has a kitsune. I thought the kitsunes would have whiskers.

\- I noticed your sense. - Said Alice. - What are you doing here? You´re a bit young to be walking around in place like this. - She said. - Well I got bored while Tamamo was busy getting to the Poseidon bell and- eep. - She suddenly stopped talking and covered her mouth with her hands realizing what she said. - Tamamo is here? - Asked Alice surprised. - You can´t tell her! - Said the fox girl, panicking again. - I´ll get in so much trouble if you do. - She whined.

\- Don´t worry, we won´t cause you any trouble, just go to Tamamo, we´ll be leaving. - Said Alice with a smile. - R-really? Thank you so much, I have to go back to Tamamo, bye. - Said the kitsune and she darted into the darkness of the cave, away from our sight. - I can´t believe she fell for that. - Said Alice giggling. - So, I take it we´re following her? - I asked Alice, the throbbing on my ear finally gone. - Yep, come on, I can track her scent.

I followed Alice through the cave, the navigation wasn´t hard since all the corners he found were pretty much just l shaped without anything on them, on them had a monster with the lower part of the body consisting of orange tentacles latching to the ceiling. Besides that, everything looked the same. Guess they didn´t have much imagination when they made this place.

\- I wonder what Tamamo doing here? - Alice said, wondering. - So, do you know who this Tamamo is? - I asked her - Yeah, she´s one of the heavenly knights and my adoptive mother. - she answered me. Wasn´t expecting that answer. I guess that explains why she has so casual with Granberia. And the sea captain saying she was a noblewoman. Does being a heavenly knight counts has nobility? - Anything I should know about Tamamo? - I asked her. - Don´t play poker with her, she will wreck you. - Not really the type of information I ... Wait, I just remember something. - Didn´t you say you lived in a lamia village? - I asked, remembering one of our previous conversation.

\- Hey look. A chest. - She said pointing at one of those useless corners. There it was a wooden chest and golden metal looking prestigious compared with the rest of the environment. - Huh you´re right. - I said and kept walking. – Aren´t you going to open it to get some loot? – She asked me. – No I´m not vey keen in scavenging oldplaces like this. – I responsed. – Also, I can´t stop noticing you keep avoiding my questions. - I commented.

\- Hey, the kitsune is in danger. - Alice said. A few meters in front of us, the kitsune was stuck in a giant web in the wall most of her covered in silk from the spider girl who was fondling her cheek.

\- You know, I don´t get many visitors these days. - Said the spider. The kitsune didn´t respond, her face was stuck in terror. -Certainly not as cute as you. - She said while moving the girl shoulder strap. - Why don´t we have same fu – gah! - I hit the spider girl with the angel halo making her tumble to the ground. - Get out of here if you don´t want me to beat to an inch of your life. - I threatened her. She hissed and ran into one of the dark corners. I turned to the kitsune, her face still stuck in fear. - Relax, I´m going to free you. - I said, and cut her biddings. She hugged me, trembling. - Thank you so much, I hate spiders, I hate spiders so much. - She said with tears in her eyes. At least she wasn't screaming at my ears.

\- Can you bring us to Tamamo? I need to talk to her. - Asked Alice to the trembling girl. - A-alright, follow me. – She answered, letting me go. The three of us walked deeper into the cave, keeping the same path. - Hey Alice, why does she have two tails? - I whispered to her. - It measures her power. Kitsunes are born with one tail and trough their lifes they grew new ones, she´s has two so she still weak since she still a kid. Also, she can hears us. - She answered me, and I noticed the kitsune girl ears twitch. We eventually reached a wooden door leading to a squared room, a large iron door in one of the walls. Against another of the walls there was another kitsune. She was much taller, her lower part quadrupedal like an actual fox with a yellow and dark fur, covering her lower body and her seven tails. Guess that means she´s five times stronger than our guide? Still no whiskers thought. The moment we enter the room she notices us.

\- Misha there you are. Who are these people – gah. - The large kitsune was interrupted by the smaller kitsune hugging her, babblling and crying about what just happened to her

\- There, there Misha, everything fine. - Said theolder kitsune, comforting her. She looked at us and took her hand to her mouth and gasped in surprise. - Be quiet, I´m just here to see Tamamo. - Said Alice with an ordering tone.

Suddenly the large door opened, a small shorter, younger kitsune, with nine tails form what I could tell, blond hair, strange clothes with huge sleeves and with a large rusted bell in her left hand. The strangest thing was her eyes, like the sea captain it looked like the eyes of someone who lived a long life and seen much. - Alice, is that you? – She said with a soft voice. - Come here and give me a hug, my little snake. - Alice proceed to do just that. I can´t believe this person would be older than Alice. And she´s looking at me.

\- So who´s your friend sweetie? - She asked, still looking at me. - Oh right he´s Luka, my travelling companion. Luka this is Tamamo, my adoptive mother. - She said. - Hello. - I said with a polite smile. Tamamo approached me and sniffed me. - You´re such a cutie. I bet you would make a good husband. - She said. - Thank you? - I said. Not sure if that´s the proper response to something like that. - So this what you´ve been doing? Travelling with a habitant from such a faraway continent? It´s not proper for the Monster Lord to do such things. - Tamamo said to Alice.

I wasn´t really expecting this. - Alice, you´re the Monster Lord? - I asked her. – Wait. That actually explains a lot. - She sighed and turned her head to Tamamo. - He wasn´t supposed to know that. - She said through gritted teeth. - Oh. Ops. Well, doesn´t really matter. Your boyfriend probably would have figured it out on its own. - Responded Tamamo.

Wait! Boyfriend?

\- Alright that´s it! Everyone get out. Me and Tamamo need to talk in private. - Alice said with a raised voice. We left the two alone in the squared room.

Alice P.O.V

\- Oh Alice, there was no need to get embarrassed. I was just kidding about the boy. - Tamamo said. - I know, but I need to have a serious conversation with you. - I said. - Alright, so you actually decided to travel the world after all. - Said the elder kitsune. - I talked about that for years. Are you surprised? – I asked. - No I´m just surprised that you decided to come all the way to the Ilias continent. In your geography studies we barely gave a glance to this oversized island. – Tamamo said. - So, what was so important that you wanted totalk about? – She asked.

I proceed in explaining the events of the last couple days except for that night in the inn. My crashing in the island, meeting Luka, and the events of Illiasburg and Happiness Village and the more recent events of today. - Well, you´ve been having some quite … interesting adventures. – Tamamo commented. - Good to know that the harpies have a new better leader. I´m going have to archive their new location when I get back and I have to thank Luka for saving Misha. Still I can´t believe you punched an angel in the face, that´s going for the history books. - She said with a hint of pride.

\- It was pretty awesome. So anyway why are you here? Did you come here just because of that bell? - I asked her. - Pretty much. Well, actually is because of that storm that Alma created. – She answered. - Alma Elma is the one who made that storm? That´s not how she usually acts. - I said, surprised.- Guess everyone I know in a personal level has been keeping themselves busy. - Yeah was going to see if I could reach her with the bell to know why she´s doing this, but since you´re here, you might was well be the one doing it, since it´s your duty. – She said extending her hand with the bell - You are going to do aren´t you? – She asked with her classic stern teacher face.

\- I can do that, I come here for the bell anyway. - I answered and took the bell from her. - Well then, I´ll leave the task of dealing with Alma to you. - Tamamo said. - Now are you sure you´re going to be alright traveling? - She asked, this time with that motherly concerned look. That look always made me feel like a little girl again. -Don´t worry I´m an adult now, I know how to take care of myself. Actually … I need just a tiny favor from you. - I said smiling, like kid asking for candy.

Back to Luka P.O.V.

\- They´re taking their time in there. - I commented. - I wonder what they´re talking about. - We can hear them just fine, and my eyes are up here. - Said the older kitsune, pointing at her eyes. - Sorry where I come from women usually use clothes. - I said averting my eyes. Just then the door opened and I noticed that Alice was holding the bell.

\- Alright girls, it´s time for us to return home, we dwelled in where enough for today. And for you Luka, here you go, a nice piece of fried tofu for saving Misha. - Tamamo said and handled a piece of food I´ve never seen before. She also pated me in the head. - Or would you prefer to touch my fluffy tail? - She asked, waving one of her tails in front of me. - No need, this is enough, thank you. – I responded. Tamamo then went to Alice. - Well sweetie, have fun in your trip. – She gave Alice a kiss in the cheek. She then approached the other kitsunes and the three of them mumbled something and disappeared in a green light like Granberia.

. So I guess that now we – hey! `` - Alice suddenly stole my tofu. - Can it. I was the one who got the bell. - She said and ate it. - Hm, delicious. - So, how did the conversation with Tamamo go? - I asked her. - You two here there for a while. - I told her about the last couple days, she gave me the bell and I asked for some borrowed money. - She explained. - Now, come on, let´s get out of here, we´ve dwelled in where enough for today. – She said. - You´re still okay with travelling right? Even if you know I´m the Monster Lord. - She asked me. - If your highness allows me. - I said jokingly with a bow. - Hilarious, let´s go. - She responded with a dry tone. - Has your majesty commands. - I joked again. - Stop that. - She orderes with an annoyed tone. - If you want to talk just ask more of your questions. – She said. - Alright I do have a lot of questions. - I said. - I bet you do. - She retorted. So we left the cave, to return to Iliasport, with me asking questions nonstop to Alice.

Later, back at the entrance of the town.

... And that´s how you give a woman an orgasm. - Alice finished explaining, was we approached Iliasport, the sun already in the middle of the sky. Somehow the conversation went from monster society to Alice explain me about sex. – Wow, vaginas are so complicated. - I said thinking about her words. Much more informative than put your dick in and release your seed.

We enter the town and made our way to the docks. I noticed the burn husk of one of the houses close to the entrance. Apparently, according to the town's people the house burned down yesterday´s night. Three people died in fire. What a shame I thought.

\- Hey captain, we got the bell, ready to set sails? - I asked, showing him the bell. He laughed. - I can´t believe you actually brought one, lad. I was just playing along. - You promised that you would give us passage to Port Natalia. - Said Alice. - I´m a man of my word, my lady. But don´t expect any special treatment, you´re only getting a bunker each. Don´t worry, the sheets are flea free. - He responded. - We don´t need any special treatment. We just want to get to Port Natalia. - Alice affirmed.

\- Very well, then. - Said the captain. He got up and went to his ship. - Alright lady´s, to your posts we´re finally going to Port Natalia. – He shouted to his crew. - But captain, what about the storm? - Asked one of the sailors. - It´s alright lad, we have magic on our side. - Responded the captain. The younger sailor shrugged his shoulders and went back to his work.

Later after the ship had set sail.

\- Alright. Try again. - Ordered Alice. I did has she said. I jumped from the mast and made a trusting motion with the angel halo. - Very good. You performed it like expected. - Alice said slithering to me. She had casted an illusion spell on the crew before we started training so they wouldn´t notice that a monster was in the deck. She said she just didn´t felt like changing to her human form. - That technique is called demon skull beheading. – Alice explained. - It´s said that Desureia, a previous harpy queen used it to Smash the skulls of three hundred enemies, their brains covering the field.

\- How riveting. - I said with sarcasm. - Since I don´t have wings, can I actually using this technique to his full potential? - I asked her. - Well, that technique is supposed to be used be used with earth magic and I can´t sense the gift on you, so it would be quite difficult for you to master it. - She answered.

\- The gift? What´s that? - I asked her again. - The gift of magic. - She answered. - Some people have a natural ability in the use and learning of magic. With it a person can learn in a few years what would take a lifetime for a person without the gift. - She explained.

\- Can humans have this gift? - I asked her. - Yes, while it´s more common in monsters, humans can have this gift, and the chances of having is bigger if their mother is a monster. By the way, that ring … - Said Alice looking at my mother´s ring. - It belonged to my mother, she gave it to me before she passed away. - I said, with a low tone. Alice took my hand to her eye level. - Relax. I just want to take a closer look at it. She looked at the ring turning my hand, looking at it from every angle and licked it. - It was an enchantment, but it´s not for suppressing spiritual energy. - She said. - Was licking it really necessary? - I asked, retracting my hand.

\- Wanted to be sure. Also the wind´s getting stronger. Better use the bell. - Alice commented. I tied the bell to the mast of the ship. The bell released a sound, the runes curved on it shined. The wind suddenly stopped howling, disappearing, making the atmosphere around us seem like a calm day despite the black clouds all around it and the ship seemed to be sailing faster.

\- Well looks like that worked. How are you going to get this Alma Elma person attention? - I asked her. - That won´t be a problem. - She responded, looking at the dark sky. I felt a sudden rush of wind despite the effects of the Poseidon bell. - An interesting object you have here. - Said a soft voice behind us - I bet you have an encyclopedia knowledge about this, don´t you Alice? - Next to the mast was standing the most beautiful women i had ever seen. She was tall, with a well-shaped figure, and curves in all the right places, the clothes she was wearing didn't exactly hide them, and she had purple hair that reached to her waist and in that hair, a pair of large horns sprouting from both sides of her head, a pair of leathery bat like wings sprouting from her back and a tick tail, marking her has a succubus, a type of monster that seduces men and woman into their doom. I can see why. She makes the images of Ilias look pale in comparison.

\- Hello Alma, haven´t see you in a couple weeks, looking good like always. Alice complimented. – You know it. – The succubus responded. - Mind explaining why you made this storm? – Asked Alice with a glare. – Alma, walked to Alice. Ilias damnit ever her walk is sexy. - If you must know, your majesty, there was a pirate armada operating in this sea, it attacked merchants, a coastal village and a colony of mermaids, so I intervened by making a storm and destroyed their ships. - She explained. - So who´s your friend? - She asked turning her head to me with a sultry smile. - H-hi. - Was the only thing I could pronounce. - He´s my traveling companion, Luka. – Alice responded. - Now focus Alma. Your storm did has much bad has good, it interrupted this sea route and damaged this very ship. - Said Alice, returning to the subject in question.

Alma shrugged her arms. - It´s a storm, I´m not going to have completely control over it, besides its only going to last for two more days. - Well undo it now since you've already takem care of these pirates of yours. - Said Alice. - Undo It? By Myself? Is that an order? - Asked Alma. - Yes, it´s an order. Do it now. - Affirmed Alice. Alma Elma sighed. - I´m going to need a barrel of surrapa after this. And a threesome. I´ll let you join if you want Luka-boy. - Said the succubus to me, winking. I just blushed, incapable of responding. - Well, of to save day. Good to see you again Alice. And I hope to see you again Luka-boy. - She said with a seductive tone and blew me a kiss. - I just waved my hand nervously and with a dumb smile. She then opened her wings and flew out off our sight. I didn´t took much time for the storm to dissipate, replaced by the night sky, full of stars.

\- Well that went better than I expected. And faster. - Said Alice. - Y-yeah that went great. - I commented. - Now, if you excuse me, I´ll be in my bunker. – I said and ran to the inside of the ship.

Alice left alone in the deck scoffed. – Men.

End of Chapter


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A trip to the Library

\- I'm back! - Loudly proclaimed the succubus queen has she entered the room. - Morning Tamamo, Granberia. – The succubus greeted two person on the room, sitting next to a table with refreshments. - Morning Alma. - Responded the kitsune. - Morning Alma. We´re just talking about our beloved leader and her so called travelling companion. - Said the swordswoman.

\- Oh, cute short guy with purple hair and beautiful blue eyes? - Asked Alma Elma. - You´ve met him too? - Asked Granberia surprised. - Did everyone in our circle made a trip to the Ilias continent?

\- Looks like it. – Anwsered Tamamo. - Speaking of that. Why we´re you doing that storm? - Asked Tamamo to Alma.

\- There was an armada of pirates causing trouble and I decided to do my good action for this decade, so I destroyed them with said storm. Then I found those two travelling through the storm with some magical bell-thingy, and her majesty ordered me too stop the storm. And that´s how ended the day by fucking a pair of twins. - Concluded the succubus.

\- Well, well Alma Elma doing her duties. Trully an amazing event - Said Tamamo, smirking. – The only thing missing is the mother of monsters showing up with lemon pies. - Mocked Granberia. – What can I say? Sometimes I like to help. - Responded Alma smiling. - What about that hero journey business you told us about, Granberia? - Asked Alma.

\- I went to the Ilias continent, that´s where I crosspath with Alice. The hero journey thing really wasn´t anything to worry about, those thugs aren´t a treat for anyone who knows how to defend themselves. - Answered Granberia. - Neat. So where's Erubetie? I should have felt her presence by now. – Asked Alma.

\- She´s not here, she left two days ago. Went back to Undine Spring. It´s nice to have a day in here without having to listen to her ramblings. - Responded Tamamo. - That explains why the humans around here looked less tense than usual. - Commented Alma. Tamamo nodded in agreement.

\- Well, since everyone is busy going somewhere else lately, I´m going to do some reconnaissance on San Illias. So, if excuse me … - Said Granberia, got up and turned around, walking to the hallway. - Don´t you mean spying? - Asked Tamamo. - Same thing, really. - Answered Granberia before turning right in the hallway.

\- You know, I´ve been meaning to take a trip back home, take some paper work with me, leave the local ruling to the castellan. - Pondered Tamamo. - What about you? You´re going to the coliseum in Grand Noah later this week? - She asked the succubus. - Of course! I have to keep my title. - Responded Alma Elma with a laugh.

Meanwhile in Port Natalia

\- So, Tamamo is the queen of kitsunes? And Alma Elma is the queen of succubus? Now I feel embarrassed, I should have been more polite. - I sad while we were walking through Port Natalia market. There sure is a lot of mermaids in this town. - Don´t worry about that, those two are more casual than the usual queen, if you didn´t noticed. - Answered Alice. - But yes, they´re both queens. Alma´s been the queen for 7 years more or less. Tamamo has been the ruler for more than a century.

\- More than a century? - I asked astonished. - How long is a kitsune lifespan? - Without dying from disease or a fatal wound? They can live above 200 years. – Alice answered.

\- What about succubus? - I asked.

\- Same as humans, and the plural is succubi. - She answered. - Also, are you going to ask me about the lifespan of every monster race we´ve met?

\- Yes - I responded. Alice sighed. - Dragons, succubi and lamias including other subraces of the snake kind have the same lifespan as humans, and harpies only live to about 50 or 60 years due to a higher breeding rate, again, that´s taking in consideration that they didn´t suffered anything life threatning. Happy now? - She asked me with an annoyed tone.

\- What about mermaids? - I asked, looking at a statue depicting a mermaid side by side with a human facing against figures that looked like the classic barbarians form adventure stories.

\- Close to 200 years. - She answered.

\- You think the mermaid in this statue is still alive today? The description says that it happened 70 years ago.

\- That´s the current mermaid queen that´s depicted. 70 years ago this town was attacked by a large group of raiders. Her consort was killed and she gather the mermaids and together with the humans they drove the raiders out. - She explained.

\- What´s a consort? - I asked

\- It´s an outdated term to refer to a husband or wife of a monarch. – Alice answered.

\- It´s kind of weird how a town with so many monsters is so close to San Ilias. - I commented.

\- They pretend not to notice, since the mermaids are vital for this town and it's the only one with a sea route to the Ilias continent. Plus they´re too focused in their inner politics games. - Alice explained.

\- Speaking of San Ilias I- is that building on fire? - I said pointing at the obvious burning building with several people trying to douse the fire. - It is, maybe we should go help.- Alice said.

So we spent most of the day helping to stop the fire from spreading. Apparently someone try to burn a mixed school of human and mermaid children. After that ordeal we rented a room with two beds in one of the town inn.

\- Glad that´s over. - I said sitting on my bed. - Can you believe someone would actually try burn down a school. - Yeah, and while we were fighting the fire I heard from some people that this was the doing of Ilias Kreuz. - Responded Alice.

\- I heard about that name before, back with the problem with those kids close to Iliasburg. What exactly is Ilias Kreuz? - I asked her - A bunch of religious fanatics who attack anyone they suspect of being friendly with monsters, even San Ilias shuns them due to their overly violent methods. - She explained, while taking her armor. - How don´t you know about them? They´re quite infamous.

\- I´ve lived all my life in a small isolated village, how could I know anything about them? - I responded. - Fair enough. I´m hungry. - She said, rubbing her stomach. - Hey Luka, go to the market and buy some salmon, I want some.

-Go buy it yourself, I´m already comfortable. - I said already laid in the bed, my arms behind my head. She came to me and started shaking me. – Come on do it, I´ve done so much for you. – She complained. – I´ll do it if you give me a kiss. - I asked jokingly. She responed by taking me out of the bed with one arm and put her face inches for mine, smiling.

\- What ... - Before I could say anything else, she kissed me. My eyes wide open in shock while her were closed, felling her warm lips on mine´s. The kiss went for several seconds until Alice ended it. - There, now go buy me some salmon. – She said, handed me some money and pushed me through the bedroom door and closed it. I stood there for a few seconds trying to process what just happened.

\- … Alright … Salmon for dinner then.

The next day we made our way to San Ilias, intended in seeing the art that pilgrims had talk about back home when they passed through our village. Although I was concerned about Alice coming with me since we would be going to the stronghold of her enemy´s people.

\- You really don´t mind going to San Iias? - I asked Alice again.

\- For the third time I can change form! - She responded annoyed. - Besides, I can do some reconnaissance while we´re there.

\- Reconnaissance? Oh! Don´t you mean spying? - I asked.

\- Same thing, really. Then again, it´s San Ilias, so I´m probably just going to hear a bunch of their religious propaganda. - She said with a frown.

\- I take it you don't agree with San Ilias … dogma is it? - I asked. - Isn´t that obvious? - She answered with a sarcastic tone. - But, yes their preaching causes nothing but pointless conflict. They say every monster are just mindless beasts that attack and rape humans. You´ve seen by yourself that´s not true.

\- Yes, since your people started to cultivate surrapa, anyway. - I responded.

\- Started to? We´ve been farming and brewing surrapa since the oldest history records. You just assume that it was something recent? - She asked me.

\- Oh really? Sorry, yeah, I thought it was recent. - I answered a bit ashamed of my ignorance.

\- Well it isn´t, we´ve been doing since the dawn of civilization. We wouldn´t have a civilization if we spend all the time sucking dicks. - She said. That last sentence made me laugh.

\- Speaking of dicks, I need to go make a bathroom break. - I said. - Go on, I´ll wait. - Alice responded. I got off the road, into the tall grass and went behind a tree to do my business. Has soon as I was finished, a woman appear next to me.

Hello there, what is such a pretty boy like you doing here? `` - She asked.

\- Were you watching me take a piss? - I asked back. I noticed that her lower body has like Alice, except her tail was green. I immediately went for my sword and my hand was stopped by said tail. - L-let me go. - I demanded struggling, the lamia grabbed my other hand with her own hand.

\- There´s a big town full of dangerous people close by. Why don´t you come with me? I can … protect you. - She said grinning, I was sure the last part wasn´t true.

\- Let me go! - I repeated louder, struggling against her grip. Suddenly Alice was next to us growling at the lamia, her tail smacking the ground. - Well I see you already have company, so I´ll l-leave you be. Bye. - Said the lamia, releasing me and darted thorough the tall grass until she was out of our sight.

\- You're okay? - Alice asked me. - Y-yeah thanks, things could have turned ugly. - I responded. - Indeed, come on let´s keep going. - She responded and rushed back to the road.

Later, in San Ilias

\- Have I mentioned that this place smells like a latrine? - Asked Alice. - Yeah you mentioned about 3 times already. - I responded. We eventually reached San Ilias, Alice complaining about the smell of town, the moment we laid our eyes on it. Unfortunately my goal of visiting the cultural marks of the city we´re short lived, since the walled part of the city containing all the monuments has only available to the ´´upper class`` . After that we went to a tavern to break our fast and Alice started talking about a way for me to learn magic.

\- So, let me see if I understand it. If I make a pact with these elements I can gain an affinity. Which is exactly what again?

\- A natural ability in using elemental magic. - Alice affirmed

\- And how is that different than the Gift? – I asked

\- Elemental magic is a bit different than simply casting a spell. - Alice responded.

\- I still don´t understand what´s the difference. ``

\- When mastered, elemental magic can be much more powerful than regular magic. Someone with a wind affinity could make storms, for example. – She explained

\- Storms? Does that mean Alma Elma has a wind affinity? - I asked.

\- Yeah, that´s the reason. But doing something like that is extremely difficult and leave´s her tired. - Responded Alice.

\- I remember that she said something like that when we met her. - I commented.

\- Oh? You´re paying attention? I thought you´re were too busy drooling over her. - Alice mocked with a smile. I blushed and coughed. - So how do we find these elements? – I asked.

\- I´m not really sure where they are, but I know in this city library there´s a copy of book about them which would tell us where they are. - She said before taking a sip from her drink (that she had slip a bit of surrapa).

\- The royal library? The one in the restricted part of the city for us, peasants? - I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

\- A minor inconvenience, I admit, but I´m sure we can … excuse me for a second. - Suddenly Alice got up and walked to a group of three large men talking (actually harassing) with a girl staffing against a wall, with scared eyes.

\- C´mon beautiful, me and my friends just want to have a little fun. – Said one of the men to the girl.

\- You leave her alone. She doesn´t want to go anywhere with you three. - Ordered Alice with an angry tone. The three thugs turned around noticing her and smiled.

\- Maybe we should have a little fun with you instead. - Said the one in the middle, taking a step forward. The girl they were treating ran into the kitchen.

\- I´m not into guys with vaginas. - She said with a smirk that transformed into a scowl. - Leave. Now. – She ordered.

The thug laughed. - You have a pretty mouth. I want to see what you can do with it. - He said and grabbed her arm. He received a punch on the chin, making him stumble backwards and fell. Alice quickly punched the one in the left in the face, making him lose balance and kicked the third one in the crotch, making him fall to the floor, grabbing his groin. The first guy got up, intended in making Alice pay. Alice took the stance of the tailless fox fighting style, blocking his strikes and countering back.

The guy that had been kicked in the groin got back up, unsheathed a dagger from his hip, I went to him, also using the tailless fox techniques to quickly disarm him and punched him in the face. The latter wasn´t very effective, has he got up quickly.

I took the tailless fox stance, he lunged at me trying to punch me, I dodged he´s strikes and hitted him in the stomach four times, he has resistant has he recovered quickly and kneed me in the stomach and pushed me.

He´s mistake was ignoring me to retrieve his dagger, he turned back to me, dagger in his hand in reverse grip, and found the tip of my (normal) blade an inch from his face.

\- Drop it. - I ordered. He released the grip of his weapon, it hitted the ground, making a metallic sound. - Leave. - I said nodding to the door. He looked at me and back to the sword, and then darted to the door. I turned my attention to Alice fight, she was grabbing the second man by an arm lock and using him has a shield, causing the first man to punch his friend in the face. She threw her meat shield to her opponent, their heads collided, and they fell to the ground.

Alice sat in the first man chest and started to punch him in the face until he was bleeding profoundly from his nose. She then got up.

\- There, we played. Now leave before I decide to get rough.- She said, poiting to the door. The man got up and dragged himself to the tavern´s door, only to be meet with a short man with a large scar in his face accompanied by four armed men. - Xavier! Shit! Listen ... – He started saying - Arnold, you were warned. - Said the short man with a guttural voice. - Leave the city unless you want to end has a body in the ditch.

The large man ran into the street. Xavier enter the tavern, his group standing by the door. He examined the scene in front of him, showing no emotion. He went to the remaining thug and grabbed him by the collar. - Did these two beat you and your friends? - He asked him. - Y-yes. - Answered the thug. The Xavier guy then head butted him and left him to whimper in the ground, grabbing his face in the pain. He walked to us.

\- You too come with me. The Madame has use for people like you. – He ordered.

\- The Madame? - Questioned Alice.

Ten minutes later we were in a fancy office, in a brothel, brought there through a back door by Xavier. Sated behind the desk, a middle aged woman, pale with black hair, a fancy dress and eyes sharp has steel, studying us.

\- So these two took down little Arnold´s gang? - She asked with a nasal voice.

\- Yes Madame, they left Arnold with a bloody nose. I can assure this time he won´t cause trouble anymore. - Responded Xavier next to her, his arms behind his back, standing upright like a soldier talking with his superior.

\- I asked them, not you Xavier. Be quiet. - She said.

\- I apologize Madame. - He said, gulping.

\- Now explain why you two decided to start a fight in my territory. - She demanded.

\- We were just having lunch, when we noticed those three causing trouble, so we decided to help them. - I explained. The woman snorted. - Aren´t you two just adorable, playing heroes. But you see, I don´t take lightly of people taking justice to their own hands around here. It attracts the city watch. – She said with a cold tone and then, smiled. - But fortunately for you two, I have use for a couple jobs.

\- What if we don´t want to do these jobs? - Questioned Alice.

Madame glared. - You don´t, unless you want to end dead in alley, robbed of all your belongings. Do the jobs right, and you´ll get some coins in your pockets. - She responded, her voice had a displeased tone.

\- I have a better idea. - Said Alice, moving forward and putting her hands in the desk. - Alice, maybe we should just agree … - I started saying before she interrupting me. - Hush Luca, adults are talking. How about instead of paying us, you gets inside the library? – She said.

The crime lord looked at us for a few seconds, showing no emotion, and then she smiled. - You know what? I´m felling generous today, so this how were going to do. You do the jobs like instructed and I´ll see about getting you two a little field trip to the library. Follow Xavier, he will give you the instructions. - She ordered, not caring if we agreed to our terms. Still it was a relief that she agreed with Alice ´´negotiation``.

\- See? I told you I would get us inside. - Said Alice after we got out of the office. - Yeah, now we just have to do a bunch of shady jobs for a crime lord. Nice work. - I said sarcastically.

\- Details. We just need scene transition. - She responded.

\- Scene what now?

\- Never thought I would spent the afternoon throwing a body into a well. - I said has I raised the bag with body. - Quit complaining and hold it, and … alright drop it. - Alice instructed, and I let go of the body, it fell through the well. The sound of water splashing came out of the depths of the well.

\- I hope no one drink from this well for a while. - Commented Alice.

\- You want to give me the payment. - Alice said waving her hand.

\- I want to give you the payment. - Said the hypnotized man, extending a small bag.

\- Next time someone asks you to pay the Madame tax, you pay. - She said, waving her hand again and grabbing the bag.

\- Next time I will pay my taxes right away. - Said the man. He started drooling.

\- Thank you, have a nice day. – Alice thanked

\- I will have a nice day. – Said the man slowly was we walked away.

\- That hypnotism spell is useful. - I commented.

\- It sure is. - Alice commented back.

\- Just take the money! I won´t steal from the Madame ever again! - Said the cowering man.

\- That´s right, hand the money or else I´ll rub this cat all over your face again. - Said Alice.

\- Meow.

\- No please! I´m allergic to cat hair! - Said the man whimpering.

At least we´re not using violence, I thought.

Later, back in the office

\- One hundred and forty five. One hundred and forty six. One hundred and forty seven...

Alice coughed. - So, about or deal… - The Madame raised her index finger telling her to wait. - One hundred and forty eight. One hundred and forty nine. One hundred and fifty. - She took four pieces from the pile and putted it at edge of the table. - That´s your payment for catching the thief. - She said and grabbed a pipe and lit it. Alice grabbed the payment and handed it to me. - So, about our deal about you getting us inside the library.

The Madame took a few puffs before talking. - You're in luck, I happen to have a job that involves the royal library.

So that's why she agreed so easily.

She handed Alice a piece of paper. - There´s a book I want, the name is in the paper. Xavier will give the instructions. You can go. - She ordered.

A few minutes later, after we got our instructions.

\- It actually smells worse than the town! - Complained Alice.

\- What did you expect? It's a sewer. Don´t touch the walls. - I responded.

We were instructed to enter the sewers (which were very spacious, you could even built another city in here) to meet one of Madame´s goons. It wasn´t difficult. He was just around the corner.

\- Are you the one who´s supposed to take to the royal library? - I asked him. - No. I just like the smell of shit. – He responded. - Come on. We just have to go through this ladder.

We climbed through a long ladder into a trapdoor to enter in of all of the things, a supply closet. A supply closet with a trapdoor with direct access to the sewers. Guess I should be thankful for not having to come out of a latrine.

\- The library is through the stairs one the first door on the right. You have ten minutes before the guard finishes is break. - Said our guide.

We went into the corridor, has we walked I observed the art works adorning the walls, the light from the torches wasn't enough to see the details. A shame. We went through the stairs and through an unlocked wooden door into the library. It was a large room full of shelves with books.

\- Now this is more like it. Books has far has the eyes can see. - Alice said with a cheerful tone. - So, what book are we looking for? - I asked. - Oh right! The old woman wants a book called Poisons from the Eastern Lands and we were looking for a book called Four Animists and their Sources. I´ll look in the left side you look in the right side. - She said and went to left side. - Great. I get all the religious books. - I heard her say.

I started looking in the shelves for our objectives, following the alphabet. Found the book for our ´´client`` easily, without success in finding ours. - Hey Alice, I found the poisons book, but I haven´t found ours. Any luck? – I asked.

\- Thou´s will take your life has the visage of a monster taints your very soul. - She said reciting a passage from one of the books she was holding. - And yet it says here that suicide is one of the greatest sins. Ha! Ilias teachings make so much sense. - She laughed, putting the book back to his place. - What did you say? – She asked me.

\- I said that I found the poisons book but can´t find ours. - I repeated. - Maybe you just missed it. - She said approaching me, she stooped and sniffed the air. - There´s a monster in here. – She said. - Really? In the library? - I asked. Alice didn´t answer. She took a book from one of the shelves and opened it. Between the pages there was a tiny person with blue clothes, glasses and large horns.

\- Hello, are you the contact from the clerics? You´re earlier than scheduled. - Said the small person with a soft voice. - That´s right! Our order needs a book called Four Animists and their Sources, do you have it? - Asked Alice. The creature gave a pondering look before answering. – Strange, that´s not what they usually want. –Said the tiny woman. - But I´m pretty sure he have that one. Ask Tina, she´s in the secret room on the right wall, just pull the green candle in the wall to open the door. – She explained. - Thank you. - Said Alice. She closed the book and putted it back in the shelf and walked to the indicated wall.

I just followed her thinking about what I just saw. Do books have tiny people living on them? All them? Did the books I´ve read had people living on it? While I was thinking about that, Alice opened the secret door and entered it. I looked inside the room. In the room there was another monster. This one was bigger, had the body of a woman with blue hair, glasses and well-kept clothes. The part under the torso was another matter, it was a big pile of flesh with large tendrils. I took a step to the left and put my back against the wall, hoping it hadn´t noticed me.

\- Hello there, your friend told me you had the Four Animists and their Sources stashed in here. - I heard Alice say. There was a moment of silence. Then I heard another voice. - Here you go, close the door when you leave, please.

Alice left the room and activated the wall mechanism and handed me a large leather bounded book. She noticed my panicking expression. - What´s wrong with you? – She asked.

\- Nothing. I´m just surprised by how diverse monster can be. - I responded. - What? You thought they would be all has beautiful as me? - She asked jokingly.

I´m sure that impossible, but she doesn´t need to know that. - We got what we need, we better get out of here before we get in trouble. - I said changing the subject. - Yes, let´s. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get out of this city. - She responded.

After we left the building we gave the poisons book to our ´´boss`` and she paid us for our work. She didn´t have any more work for us, fortunately. We quickly left the city and end up stopping in the outskirts of the city, under a tree to take advantage of the shade.

\- So, Slyph is in the forest of spirits, Gnome lives in the Sarifa Desert, Undine lives in a spring in east Sentora and Salamander lives in Gold Volcano. - I said reciting what I was reading.

\- Oooh! That´s right. Funny thing. I already knew where Undine is. - Said Alice.

\- We still had needed to get this book even if you had told me first anyway. - I said. - And if we want to travel to any of these places we need to do some jobs. The type of jobs that don´t involve crime lords. – I suggested

\- Alright, but let´s go to Port Natalia, I saw one of those job boards in there and I don´t want to deal with that stench. - Protested Alice.

\- Sure. The inn in there is cheaper anyway. - I said.

We start walking back to Port Natalia, the sun getting close to the horizon has we walked. Midway through our path we were stopped by a tall woman in a pink dress carrying a basket.

\- Well, I wasn't expecting to find you guys around here. - Said the stranger with a smirk. - Do we know you? - I asked her. – Oh, sorry. I´m using my disguise. - She said and was enveloped in a light. When the light disappeared the woman was replaced by a familiar person.

\- Granberia?

End of Chapter


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Sidequests

\- Granberia? – I asked suprised.

\- The one and only. - Responded the swordswoman with a grin.

\- What are you doing here? - Asked Alice.

\- There´s a small village around here that make´s really good meat pies. - Granberia answered, pointing at the basket she was holding in her forearm.

\- You came all the way over here ... for some meat pies? - I asked skeptically.

\- Yeah, they´re really good meat pies. - She responded.

\- So, you´re not spying on the leaders of San Ilias? - Asked Alice.

\- What´s the point? Those morons are too busy with their inner power struggles, thinking they're the center of the world. Also, I don´t want to get near that city.

\- The smell right? - Asked Alice.

\- Yeah, it smells like a damn latrine. - Responded Granberia with a grimed face. - What about you two? Heard you encounter Alma and Tamamo.

\- Yeah talk about coincidences. - Answer Alice.

\- What about shorty over here? You´re still training him? - Granberia asked. Great, now they dragging me too their conversation. - Yeah, I´ve been teaching him some basic techniques. Is been improving, all thanks to me. - Alice said proudly.

Well, she´s right about that.

\- Is that so? - Said Granberia with a grin and turned to me. - So, Lika. - It´s Luka. - I corrected her. - Right, how about we have a friendly spar? I wanna see what Alice´s been teaching you.

\- Spar with you? I´m not sure good enough for that. - I said a bit scared. - Don´t worry, I´ll go easy with you. `- Granberia said while she´s has putting her basket in the ground.

\- Just do it, or else she won´t stop chasing about that. Trust me. - Said Alice while eyeing the contents of the basket. - They look delicious.

\- Don´t you dare touch my meat pies! - Commanded Granberia. - Come on pipsqueak, a little spar. It´s all I ask. – she said with a smile. - Fine. - I said and unsheathed the Angel Halo.

\- What the fuck is that? - Asked Granberia, her eyes wide open. – It is a sword that Alice borrowed me. - I responded. - That´s a sword? Can´t you just use your other sword? – She asked.

\- Sure. - I said and sheathed the Angel Halo back to its scabbard and unsheathed my steel sword. - Go ahead, show me what you can do. - Granberia ordered while putting herself in a fighting stance, blade in her hands.

I quickly closed the distance and stroke with the thunder trust. Granberia easily blocked it. - A good move to start in combat. - Granberia commented. I ignore her words and started using what I had self-taught myself. Strike, trust and slashing for attacking. Parry, block and striking back for defense. Keeping my body rigid, right foot in front of the left foot. During the whole ordeal Granberia kept her eyes on my blade movements.

\- Well, you´re better than your standard militia. Who taught you how to fight like that? - Asked Granberia. -No one. - Answered Alice. - He taught himself by reading a book about the basics for years.

\- Really? Not bad. - Granberia responded, her head turned to Alice, still perfectly blocking my strikes. I stroke with demon decapitation, and she blocked without problem, her head still turned to Alice. I took a step back to ready my next attack. I jumped high and made a strong sweep with my sword, intended on giving her a mighty blow. She also blocked it perfectly, this time her eyes were turned to me.

\- Was that the Demon Skull Beheading technique? Not bad even although you didn´t used earth magic. - She pushed to me back and took on a relaxed stance. All those attacks and she wasn´t even breaking a sweat. - What else do you have? - She asked.

\- That´s all she´s taught me. - I responded. Granberia grinned. - In that case, let me show the next technique you should learn. Make sure you block.

The swordswoman closed the distance between us and unleashed five quick slashes in succession. The last slash hit me with enough force to knocking me into to the ground and making me lose the grip on my sword.

\- We´re done here. - Granberia said, sheathing her sword. - Keep practicing. - She then went to retrieve her basket. - Did you touch any of my pies? - She asked Alice. - No, I didn´t touch any of your dumb meat pies. - Alice responded. Granberia simply bowed. - I´ll leave your presence now. You highness.

\- Granberia. – Alice responded.

Granberia disappeared in a familiar green light, leaving us two alone. - Can you do that? - I asked her. - Yes, but the spell only works once and you have to do prepare it in the place you want to teleport first. - Alice answered.

\- Teleport? What´s that? - I asked. - It means instant movement from one place to the other. More or less. – She explained. - Let´s get going. I want to see if can get some of those meat pies. - I rolled my eyes. Should have expected this form her. She turned her back and started to slither away. I rushed to her side and started walking at her pace.

The next day.

After breakfast, we went to the job board in the town square of Port Natalia.

\- There´s a job has a caravan guard. But the payment isn´t very good - I said.

\- Does it go any of the places we want to go? - Alice asked.

\- No it´s just local places. - I responded.

\- Forget that one then. – Alice said.

\- There´s a job has a courier. But the payment isn´t any better. It´s also local.

\- Next.

\- A woman wants her spoon retrieved from ... a cave full of evil monsters? – I said confused.

\- What kind of side quest is – hey look that pigeon has a letter tied to its leg. - Alice said. I looked up and saw a carrier pigeon, on top of the job board, scratching its wing. - Yeah it's a carrier pigeon. Don´t eat it Alice, it´s doing an important job. - I said. - Funny. But really? Pigeons has carriers? That´s adorable. In hellgondo we use ravens. - Alice said.

\- Really? I never taught that ravens could be used has messages carriers. - I said turning to Alice. - Yeah they can. Back to the board, anything interesting? - Alice asked.

\- Someone needs a pledge of marriage brought to the southern sea temple to be signed by the high queen. It doesn´t clarify the payment, it´s just says large reward. - I answered. Alice approached the board and ripped the paper with the job and gave it to me. - Seems good enough. Go see the person about the job, then meet me in the beach. - Alice said before walking away.

\- Well then, let´s see about doing this job. - I said and made my way to the address.

A bit later

I walked to the beach and saw Alice waving at me and I went to her. The beach was deserted besides me, Alice and a ´´crab`` girl fishing with a net.

\- How did it go with your client? - Alice asked. - She gave me this supposed magic ball to reach the temple. - I responded showing her a yellow transparent ball with a symbol in the center. - Was she a mermaid? - Alice asked me. - She has, in fact. - I answered.

\- Then why does she needs someone to go there? - Alice asked, annoyed. - She said she was forbidden from entering the temple for causing a bit of a mess. She wasn´t explicit. – I explained. Anyway, how does this thing works? – I asked her.

Alice suddenly took the ball from my hand. - It´s a ball of guidance, you point it at sea and use a pinch of magic … - The ball started to glow, getting stronger, and created a beam of light into the ocean. The light died out leaving a tunnel of light leading to the bottom of the ocean. - ...And you have an instant path to the closest sea temple. - Alice said with a proud smile, handling me the magic ball back. I scratched my head. – So, how was I supposed to used it? It´s not like I now magic. - I said. Alice shrugged. - Beats me. Let's go, that tunnel only lasts for a couple hours.

\- Is it safe? - I asked suspicious. - It´s safe, just follow me. - Alice said. I followed her through the tunnel. It´s was a like a different world has we travelled through the tunnel. A blue world illuminated by the sunlight, fishes in all different shapes swimming around us.

\- Is this how marriage works with monster kind? – Asking the local autority for a blessing,It doesn´t seems very different from human marriage. - I said trying to make conversation. Alice looked at me for a few seconds before speaking.

\- No. It varies from race to race, but most of them have an exchange of vows. One of the oldest types of marriages is kidnapping a male and take him has a husband. That tradition is just theatre now, it's very rare. - She explained.

\- So, a guy just waits for his soon-to-be-wife to ravage him? - I asked. - Not really ravage if everything's planned. The actual method is no longer acceptable in most monster villages,including a majority of Hellgondo. – Alice explained. - You seem to be very interested. Are your thinking about getting a monster has a wife? - Alice asked with a mocking smile.

\- No, No! I´m just curious, that´s all. - I responded, blushing. I took a few seconds before started asking again. - What about your race wedding traditions Alice? Or being the Monster Lord means you have a different type of marriage? - I asked her. She sighed. - The monster lord has its own marriage tradition. To marry, our partner has to be our equal in the battlefield. - She answered.

\- Must be difficult to find a husband. Errr … I assume. – I commented.

\- You assumed correctly. Most monster lord's in the past didn´t got married and just got a lover instead. A loophole. - Alice explained. - So, if a monster lord gets married is there an exchange of vows? - I asked. – Usually no, they just go right to the honeymoon. Make an heir right away - Alice responded.

\- Guess they just go for the best part then? - I joked. Alice giggled. - I guess so. Hey, I can see temple. - Alice said pointing, farer into the tunnel there was a large structure made of stone. Was we got closer, the structure shape became clearer. It was circular and adorned with several statues, most of them mermaids and octopus-women.

Maybe I should start asking Alice the name of the races.

\- I didn´t know there were so many type of fishes. - I commented. - Look at that one. It was a little light coming from its forehead. - I said pointing at a fish.

\- It´s an angler fish, it attracts prey with that little light. - Alice answered.

\- Awesome!

\- Yeah, and the males are tiny and get absorbed by the females until only their genitalia is left.

\- … uh … let´s just go inside the temple. - I said. - Go ahead I´ll just stay here looking at fishes. - Alice responded. - Alright then. - I responded.

I entered the temple which fortunately wasn´t flooded with water, something I should have taken to account. I made my way deeper into the temple and found in main hall a person. Her lower body consisted of tentacles and the upper part of her head had the shape of squid. She was naked and was singing while playing in a xylophone.

Under the sea

Under the sea

Darling it's better

Down where it's wetter

Take it from me.

I approached the woman. - Excuse me …

\- Upon the shore … Oh! Hello! Wasn´t expecting anyone to came here today. I´m the appointed high queen of the southern sea. What can I do for you today? - She said cheerily.

\- Um. Yes sorry for interrupting. Hello. I´m Lucas, I was hired by a mermaid to deliver a pledge of marriage so that her and her fiancé could marry. - I said extending my arm with the pledge. She took the pledge and read it.

\- Ah. Meia. Makes sense she send someone else. She´s not allowed in here since the accident with the seahorse statue. - She said. I looked around. - I don´t see a sea horse statue. - I commented. I also don´t know what a seahorse is. - Exactly. - Was her answer. - But she could have send the person she wanted to marry it to get the pledge signed. - The high queen said.

She made a good point. I just shrugged my shoulders.

The high queen signed the pledge and gave it to me. - Hold on, let me get the rings. - She went into a door and came back a minute later. - The wedding rings and for you a nice armband has a reward. I couldn´t find a pair of pants. - She said giving me the items, two cooper rings and a rusty iron armband.

\- Hum … thank you. I´ll be leaving now.

\- Let me help you with that. - She said. Suddenly, one of her tentacles warped around my waist and raised me above the ground.

What are you doing? I asked her.

She walked to entrance of the temple, oblivious to my question. - Let´s see, the mainland is in that direction.

I suddenly realized what she was trying to do. I started struggling. - Please no, I can go back on my own. - I said panicking.

\- Nonsense. This way is faster. - She responded.

\- I really don´t need … . – I was cut off by a familiar red tail grabbing me above my waist and releasing me from the high queen grasp and rushing into the tunnel.

\- Oh, alright then. Guess you didn´t wanted my help. - The high queen said. That lamia looked familiar, the high queen thought.

\- Thanks for taking me out of there, hey! Stop pushing me! - I demanded was we walked with rushed steps in the tunnel. – Yeah, well I got bored of looking at fishes while waiting for you. - She responded, still pushing me.

\- I was gone for less than five minutes. And stop pushing me! - I said turning to her. - Fine. Whatever. Did you get the quest item? - She asked. - Yeah, have it in my pocket. The high queen also gave this old armband has a reward. - I said holding the item. - Does it have an enchantment on it? – I asked her

\- No. – She answered

\- Are you sure? Lick it. - I said extending my arm and putting the armband inches from her face. - I´m not going to lick it. It just an old piece of iron. - Alice said.

\- Well, I´m wearing it anyway. I almost got tossed through the sea. - I said while tying the armband to my right arm. - Speaking of rewards, did the mermaid clarified about the said reward. - Alice asked.

\- She said she had a large bag has a reward. - I responded.

\- Of coins right?

\- I hope so.

Later, back in the client´s house

\- Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! - Meia thanked me while hopping with the pledge and rings in her hand. She approached me and planted a kiss in each of my cheeks. I blushed. - So about the payment? - I asked.

\- Of course. - She retrieve a bag from under her bed and gave it to me. It felt light, almost empty. She then pushed me to outside of her house. - Thanks for your hard work. I´m going to see my husband and tell him about the news. - She then rushed through the street. She´s fast in land for someone who was a fish tail.

\- Did you get paid? - Alice asked, coming from a corner of the street. - I think I was tricked. She just gave me an empty bag. And isn´t even a large. - I said annoyed. - Let me see if there is something in here. - I put my hand inside of it. - What the heck? - I grabbed something heavy, cold and hard like stone. It was a large piece of marble in shape of a rectangle with writing craved on it.

Certificate from the Bank of Templars to Charles Montgomery Burns for the deposit of 150 gold coins. - I said reading the writing.

\- That´s not helpful. – Alice said. - Is there something else in there? - She asked. Has a response I turned the bag upside down and shacked it. Some coins fell. Most of them were a bronze colored form some place called Grangold I´ve never heard of it. The ones I recognized totaled 6 silver. Not nearly enough for our journey.

I sighed. - Great, this all thing was a waste. - I said disappointed.

\- Oh, oh. Not it wasn´t. - Alice said. She had her entire left arm inside the bag. - What you got here is a bag of holding. - She said, handling it back to me. - ´´What´s a bag of holding exactly? - I asked.

\- It's a magical item created for easier travel. It´s bigger on the inside and everything put on it weight´s less. - Alice explained.

\- Is it valuable? Can we sell it? - I asked.

\- You do not want to sell it! Having something like is one in al life opportunity! - Alice said, her face inches from mine. I backed away. - Alright, I´ll keep it. To useful to sell it anyway. But we still don´t have enough to travel.

\- Well, then we have to take more jobs from the job board. - Alice said. - What other choice do we have anyway? - She added. We made our to the job board. The jobs were the same since ours was completed in less than an hour. Except for one.

\- This one looks good, It was posted by the city council. The reward is 3 gold coins. - I said taking the parchment from the board.

Later, at the location of our quest.

\- Stop looking at me like that. - I demanded

\- I don´t know what you´re talking about. - Answered Alice.

\- You´re glaring at me. - I said.

\- I´m not glaring at you. - She said while glaring at me.

\- You´ve been glaring at me since we left the town. – I protested

\- Nonsense. – She said.

We were in front of on abandoned mansion. According the job we were supposed to search the mansion for any signs of hauntings. The job had said that people that went inside never reported back.

\- Look I´m sure that the stories about this place being haunted is just an exaggeration. - I said, trying to comfort her.

\- Of course its just an exaggeration! Ghosts are so unscientific! - She retorted.

\- If that helps you keeping yourself together … What has that? - I asked looking at a window.

\- What was what? – Alice asked back.

\- I thought I saw a little girl in one of the upper windows. Guess it was just my imagination. - I said, suddenly Alice has right next to me, hissing. I took a step back in surprise.

\- Don´t do that again! - Alice said in angry tone.

\- Calm down. You can just stay here if you want while I go take a look inside. - I said.

\- Why the hell would I just stay here waiting for you? - She asked, still with an annoyed tone.

\- You´re obvious scared. - I answered.

\- I AM NOT SCARED! - She shouted and pushed me to the side and opened the mansion front door, it creaked and resisted due to the rust, releasing dust has it open. I followed her, the dust made me coughed has I entered. The inside was pretty much what one would expected form a house abandoned for decades. Old and decaying, with dust and spider webs covering most corners, the wood in the walls cracked and humid.

\- Look at it! - Alice shouted arms extended, standing in the middle of the entrance hall. - Look how not haunted this place is! - She shouted again.

\- Alright, let´s take a look around. Maybe we can find something useful. - I said.

\- Now you want to rob this place? You´re vile! - Alice said with disdain.

\- No, what I meant was … ah, never mind. - I said, realizing she was just mocking me.

Suddenly I noticed something coming out from one of the walls. It was a pale woman with black hair and a weird looking dress, floating. I quickly stepped in front of Alice and unsheathed the Angel Halo. Can the Angel Halo hurt a ghost I wonder.

\- What are you doing? - Alice asked me. – It´s a ghost, don't worry I´ll protect you. - I responded.

\- That´s a ghost girl. - Alice confirmed. - Right, a ghost. - I said keeping my stance. The spectral just stood there, watching us.

\- No it's completely different from a ghost. - Alice said.

\- How is it different? – I asked

\- A ghost girl is made of spiritual energy mixed with magic. Completely different. `` - Alice answered.

\- But it´s still a ghost. - I said.

\- It's not a ghost! It´s a ghost girl. Completely different. – Alice said.

\- I turned to her. - How is it different from a ghost? – I asked

\- I just told why. – She responded.

\- Your explanation just seems like an excuse to deny that is a real ghost. – I said.

\- It´s not! It´s, ... hey it´s gone.

\- What?

\- It's gone. The ghost girl is gone.

I look behind me, the ghost had really disappeared. I looked around for any signs of it.

\- Do you think it just got bored and went away? - I asked.

\- Maybe. Probably. Doesn´t matter. - Alice answered, not really caring.

\- Let´s just start looking around for real ghosts then. - I said and started walking to a hallway.

\- Really? We really need hey, wait for me! - Alice said rushing to me.

We searched the main floor for any signs of other ghosts, at least I did, Alice just spent all the time staying very close to me looking around, concerned. Our search of the floor ended in the kitchen which was in better condition and cleaner compared with the rest of the mansion.

\- Someone´s been using this place. - I said.

\- I don´t care. - Alice said.

\- Quite recently, the balcony is well clean.

\- I don´t care. - Alice repeated.

\- What this? - I asked has I grabbed a kitchen towel with a weird shape. Underneath it was a doll with a dress that looked similar to the one Tamamo has using when I met her.

\- Hey Alice look at this doll. - I said holding it.

\- What´s about it? It's just a dumb doll. And it blinked. - Alice said.

\- What? - I looked at the doll. It was smiling when previous was not. And it did blinked, its eyes meeting mine´s.

\- Play! - It suddenly said with a childlike voice. I let a yelp, releasing my grip from the doll. Instead of falling to the floor it floated. Alice just stood there with her eyes wide open in surprise. She then took a better look at the doll. - It's a doll with an impressive craftsmanship might I add, with spiritual energy added to it to make it a golem. This one is completely harmless if you couldn´t tell. – She explained.

\- Play? - The doll asked Alice. - No I don´t want to play with you, go away. - Alice responded. The doll made a frown. It then turned to me. - Play? - It asked me. - Hum, sorry I can´t. I have a job to do. - I said. The doll started frowning again and started crying, making crying sounds atleast since it probably couldn´t make tears.

\- Nice going idiot, you made the poor thing cry. - Alice said. - You made her cry too! - I protested. - No I didn´t. - She responded. I turned to the doll to try calming her down. - Listen, we can´t play with you right now, but I don´t you came with us while a take a look around so you don´t have to stay in here alone. - I said smiling. The doll thankfully stopped crying.

\- Yaaay! - She said, happily and sat on my shoulder. - Do you know who´s been using this kitchen? - I asked it. - Mommy been using the kitchen. - It answered. - Let´s see if we can find mommy. - I responded.

\- Great! You´re best friends now. Can we hurry this up? - Alice said bitterly.

We moved for the next floor. It was mostly rooms and they´re in the same estate has the rest of the mansion. Dusty, moldy and with cracked wood.

This place is huge, I thought. The entrance hall itself was bigger than my house. Alice said she lives in the castle, I wondered how big it is. - Hey Alice you live in a castle, how big … Alice? - I looked behind me. Alice wasn´t following me anymore. - Where did she go?

The doll pointed at one of the room´s farthest behind. - Oh, thank you. - I went to the room pointed at and in one of the corners was Alice, coiled, trembling and mumbling.

\- Alice are you okay? - I didn´t get a response she just kept mumbling. - Let´s get you away from this place. - I said and put my hand in her shoulder. That was a mistake. Has soon was I touched her she jumped and yelped and started running in a circle, screaming, her tail destroying every furniture it hit.

\- ALICE STOP! - I shouted. – She stopped panicking and looked at me, taking a second to process the scene. Her face turn into a scowl. - You! You did it on purpose! - She said, her voice elevated. - I'm sorry. I didn´t know you would freak-out like that. - I apologized. - Let´s just get out of here.

\- Yes, we´re going to get out of this horrible place and you´re going to make it up for scaring me! - She ordered. Before I could responded a groan came from the entrance of the room. Alice let out another scream and turned around and saw a for lack of a better word, a zombie.

It had discolored flesh with wounds and stitches in some parts of her body. It was a woman (at least when it was alive) wearing a simple dress, its mouth wide open and its white eyes darting between us. Before I could take my sword Alice slammed her tail against the zombie, sending it flying to the room on the other side of the hall.

\- Stupid zombie scaring me like that. - Alice said, annoyed. – So you´re afraid of ghosts but not zombies? - I asked. That was another mistake.

\- I AM NOT SCARED OF GHOSTS! - She shouted and smashed her tail against the floor. - I´M NOT! I´M NOT! I´M NOT! - She kept yelling and smashing her tail. She realized too late that the floor has about to collapse due to her temper tantrum.

\- Oh shiiiiiiiii …. - I heard her say as she fell through the collapsing floor. - Alice! - I shouted. I quickly approached the hole. It seems like that she had fell through the main floor into a basement. - Hold on, I´m coming! - I shouted, hoping she had heard me.

I darted from the room, the doll now floating next to me. Has I turn a corner to reach the stairs I found myself in front of three zombies, all females has well, their eyes locked to me.

\- Feed … - One of them said.

\- Hungry. - Another one said

\- Semen. - The third one said

… Wait. What? They want semen? Zombies? I don't´ even.

I unsheathed my steel sword and took my stance. I took the zombie on the middle with thunder trust and the other two with demon decapitation. I didn´t bother avoiding lethal moves since they´re already dead. My attacks resulted in their heads rolling into the floor and their bodies collapsing.

\- So this where they were. Thanks for taking care of them, it saves me the trouble. - A voice said. - Mommy! - The doll said. She went to the person standing next to the stairs. A young girl. She was dressed in black clothes, with pig tails and a greyish skin color. She took the door into her arms.

\- You found my doll. Thank you. – the young girl said.

\- Hey, you´re the one said in the window. - I said. - And you must be the one I saw from said window. I thought the other denizens would have scare you away - She responded. Her voice doesn´t sound like her appearance. - Sorry. I didn´t introduced myself. Chrome. Doctor Chrome from clan Artiste. - She extended her hand. I shake it. - I´m Lucas from Ilias Village.

\- So Lucas, where you the one who was screaming? - She asked with a smile. - What? No. That was my friend. She fell through the floors. I think she end up in the basement. - I responded.

\- Basement? Oh, you mean the crypt. Well we better help your friend, if your friend is still alive. - She said. - She´s a lamia and she´s pretty tough. I´m sure she will have only some minor injuries. – I said.

\- Let´s get your friend then, shall we? Follow me. - I followed her through the stairs, back to the main floor. We turned right and a few more hallways. What´s with these hallways?

\- So Lukas why exactly did came to this mansion? It´s not exactly a tourist trap. - She asked.

\- There was job in Natalia Port. They want to know about the supposed hauntings and the people that disappeared. - I responded.

\- Well the humans that entered ran away when they saw the other habitants of this place. So I didn´t think no one just disappeared in here. Maybe they just didn´t reported back. And about that job… - She said and stooped walking. – I really need that you don´t tell what you found here. I´ll pay you. 5 gold coins. How does that seem?

\- That´s …

\- Fine. How about 6?

\- I …

\- 7! That´s the maximum I can pay you.

\- Alright that seems like a reasonable price. - I said. I´m so lucky that she doesn´t know how to negotiate. We gave another hand shake has an agreement and resumed our pace. I was about to ask her what she does in this place when another zombie showed up. It was female and very tall, above 2 meters in height. It was most of its body covered by bandages and biggest pair of tits I ever seen.

Wait. I do I care about the size of her tits? It´s a corpse. What´s wrong with me?

The zombie pointed at me and groaned. - The problem has been taken cared of Frederika. You can go back to play the piano. - Chrome said. The tall zombie nodded and groaned and left.

\- That´s Frederika one my more recent experiments. - Chrome said. - She likes to play the piano.

\- Is this what you do? Resurrect the dead? - I asked. She laughed. - Resurrect the dead? No! That´s impossible. No, my experiments is tissue and cognitive regeneration on dead cells using a combination of medicine and magic. - She explained.

\- Sounds … important. - I said. Where did do get the bodies? – I asked her.

\- People who get killed in the streets of San Ilias. They just take everything that they had of value and leave the bodies to rot. I take what I can get. - Chrome explained.

\- So you didn´t killed anyone? - I asked. She gasped. - Kill? I´m a doctor! I took an oath! It´s my job to heal! - She responded.

\- I´m sorry. I just assume that, zombies … Never mind, can we just go help my friend?

We entered the Manor crypt, it was full of sarcophagus lining the walls. Between two of them, Alice was coiled, shaking and mumbling something about a creator.

\- Alice are you okay? - I asked softly. This time I got a response. She turned around, tears in her eyes. - L-Lucas? - It´s alright I´ll take – gah! - Suddenly she was hugging me tightly, still shaking. - Get me out of here! Please! I´m afraid of ghosts! - She said. At this point that is pretty obvious, I thought.

\- Relax I won´t let any ghosts hurt you, I promise. - I said hugging her back. That calmed her, since her shaking slowed.

\- Oh don´t worry, there aren´t any more ghosts in here. I exorcised them all. - Chrome said.

\- W-what? Who are you? - Alice asked.

\- This little kid …

\- I´m forty-seven. - Chrome corrected me.

\- … This kind lady helped me found you when you fell. - I explained. I whisperer into Alice ear: -She also been making zombies for medical experiments and she´s bribing us to keep it a secret, just a heads up.

\- Right, like I was saying, when I moved here I made my first priority has to get rid of all the ghosts that haunted this place. Apparently the family that owned this manor were slaughtered by an insane family member. I was able to exorcise all of the ghosts except the one from the murderer. I trapped it behind that block of concrete, in a circle of salt. - She said, pointing at said block, which was blocking an entrance deeper into a crypt. Alice whined and quickly moved behind me.

\- It was kind of easy to trap it. It just kept stabbing Frederika. – She said smiling

\- … Can you pay us so can get out of here? - I asked.

She paid us for our silence has promised and directed us to the front door, saying she needed to return to her lab. We existed the mansion, the sun still fairly up in the sky

\- There, you see? You can relax, were outside the mansion. - I reassured Alice. She took a deep breath of relief.

\- Excuse me, could you let me pass? - A woman carrying a box asked me. - Oh sorry. - I said and got out of her way.

\- Thank you. - She said has before closing the door´s entrance.

\- No problem. - I responded. - Wait. Who was that? - I said realizing.

\- Who was what? - Alice asked.

\- That woman … - I don´t care. Let´s leave. Now. - Alice ordered.

\- Right, right, sorry. – I said.

Two hours later

I finished shopping for all the needed supplies for our travel using our generous ´´reward`` from the manor and was returning back to where Alice was waiting for me, right outside of the town´s border.

\- Here ya go Alice, the pastry you asked for. - I said, handling her said the pastry. She took it without words. And quickly devour it. Glad to see the manor episode didn´t ruined her appetite.

\- So, we if start now, I think we can make at about 3 hours before setting camp, what do you think Alice? – I asked her

\- Lukas …

\- What is it? - I asked. Alice suddenly gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

\- That was for comforting me back in the manor. - She said.

\- I … I … I … I am … - I babbled.

\- Well we better start going if we want to make some significant progress today. – She said and got up. - Well? Are you coming or not? – She asked me.

\- … Yes of course! - I responded blushing.

So we started our travel to find the four spirits and see the rest of the world. Let´s hope we don´t have problems with ghosts again.

End of Chapter


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The forest of Spirits

\- Is it still raining? - I asked.

\- You can see that it is. Why are you asking? - Alice retorted.

It was one day after we left Port Natalia. The morning had started with a few grey clouds. At the middle of the afternoon it started raining, forcing us to seek shelter in a cave nearby. Said cave was spacious enough for us. There was also a skeleton in here, the only thing it had was old worn out clothes, nothing that told us who once was. Alice named it Skelly. She then threw it into the rain, complaining that it was annoying.

\- Want to play poker again? - I asked. - No, you´re terrible at bluffing. - She responded.

\- You just taught me how to play. - I protested. - And you´re terrible at it. - Alice responded.

\- We could play another game. I spy with my little eye something beginning with …

\- No.

\- Alright. How about you teach me some new awesome skill? - I asked.

Alice rolled her eyes. - I supposed I should teach you something vital, since our journey will take to places more … dangerous.

\- Really? What kind of technique is it? - I asked excitedly.

\- It´s not a technique, it´s a form of combat to replace the way you fight. `` - Alice answered.

\- What´s wrong with the way I fight? – I asked her a bit offended.

\- There´s nothing wrong with it, but you only use a simple form of combat. Good enough for a common bandit but anyone with actual training could easily kill you. - She explained.

Gee, thanks Alice.

\- Now, the form I´m going to teach you is called makashi. It an elegant style that relies on fluidity, precision, motion and utilizes jabs and light cuts. I´m going to show you the basic movements. – She said, before unsheating her sword.

Alice spent the next hour teaching me the makashi form, I learned the basics pretty quickly, although using it in a fight was a different matter.

\- You´re losing focus! - Alice said has she parried and deflected my jabs. - Keep your posture up! - She kept deflecting my strikes until I was against the wall. She then hit the back my hand with the pommel of her sword making me drop my sword. I hissed in pain. She grabbed my sword with a smug smile.

\- Do you see the difference when fighting an opponent with real skill? - She asked. She then swung my sword. - Good height. Whoever crafted this knew what they were doing - She then gave it back to me. - So, this form of combat, does it have a history? - I asked.

\- Indeed, it was developed centuries ago for blade-to-blade combat, but it has become less prevalent due to plate armor. - Alice responded.

\- Huh, I was expecting some bloody origin story. - I confessed.

\- There were a lot of practitioners of makashi in the past. I´m sure they could tell a violent tale. - Alice assured.

\- Would this form be effective against an opponent like, let´s say Granberia. - I asked.

\- I wouldn´t recommend it. Granberia is a master of the djem-so form, an offensive form that relies heavily in psychical strength. Makashi reliance on precision of the blade leaves it with a lack of said strength. - Alice explained.

\- So what´s the point of this form then? - I complained.

Alice eyebrows frowned. - The point is I´m teaching you so you can have better combat skills.

\- Right, I´m sorry. I should my thankful for what you´ve been doing for me. - I said apologizing.

\- If you´re really thankful, then keep practicing what I just thought you.

\- Alright I will.

\- But don´t forget to make dinner!

\- I won´t. - You would pester me about it anyway.

\- Good. - Alice concluded and went to her bag and retrieved a book and sat (coiled actually) next to the fire, reading.

I went back to practicing, alone. We didn´t talk much the rest of the day, the only sound in the cave has from the movements of my sword, the fire and an occasional turn of a page. The rain went on through the night eventually joined by thunder.

The next day at noon.

\- My leg! My fucking leg! - One of the bandits screamed while grabbing his bleeding leg.

\- You fucking brat! - The other bandit shouted has he rushed to me with an axe. I nimbly dodged him and gave him a cut on his right cheek and two smaller ones in the neck. The first one came at me with his dagger ready to stab me, I responded by using thunder trust, giving him a deep cut on the wrist making him drop his weapon. He knelled grabbing his wrist, crying.

The other bandit attacked me again, roaring in anger. I parried and dodged his strikes easily and gave a few cuts on his belly, trying to tire him. Suddenly the leader of the bandits, a big guy wearing heavy, rusted armor passed by us running.

\- Run away you morons! - He shouted.

\- Wha-guh - The bandit I was fighting was suddenly grabbed by the throat, raised a few inches from the ground by Alice with one hand, her other hand clutching the weapon of her retreating foe, a flail.

\- Tell me how to get to the forest of spirits. - Alice demanded.

\- T-the what? - The bandit asked confused.

\- The forests of spirits! Big place full of trees, elves and fairies! Don´t make me repeat again. - Alice said tighten her grip on the man´s neck. He struggled to no avail.

\- That forest is to the west in the opposite d-direction. Please let me go. `` - He begged.

Alice released her grip on the man, he got up and instantly darted away from us, the other bandit the bleeding one followed behind. Alice threw away the flail and turned to me, with an angry face and crossed arms.

\- You were right. Guess we took a wrong turn somewhere. - I said rubbing my head.

\- I warned you when we saw hills. You do realize were going to waste half a day going back right? – She asked me with an angry tone

\- Yeah, yeah let´s go back. – I said. One of the bandits left his dagger. Finders keepers, I guess.

Later that night in the encampment.

\- Hey Alice I´ve been thinking. - I said while I was eating my chicken. Alice burped, already finished with her dinner. - About what? - She asked.

\- Well we haven´t found any monster outlaws just human outlaws.

\- The major power in this region is San Ilias. Monster bandit's wouldn´t last long in these parts. – Alice said.

\- Yeah, but most monsters we´ve seen are just normal people living their lives. – I said.

\- You´re surprised? - Alice asked.

\- I mean, the way is mentioned on the Ilias manuscripts it makes it seem like there's supposed to be an all-out war between humans and monsters.

Alice laughed. - Really? I hate to break it to you but the monster kind has a whole isn´t really interested in going to war. It´s not a very good idea to go to war with the specie´s you're dependent for reproduction.

\- Huh, you actually make a very good point. - I said.

\- Of course I do. - Alice responded with a smirk. - What brought this topic anyway?

\- It just came to mind, that´s all. - I responded.

After that the conversation died out and I finished my dinner in silence.

\- Well I´m going to train. - I informed.

\- Have fun, I´m going to take a piss. - Alice said before getting up and going behind the trees.

\- Oh, okay. - I responded. I was going to ask her if wanted to train with me, but, oh well.

I started practicing making parry and jabs motion. Alice returned from her bathroom break and started a conversation in the most awkward way I could imagine.

\- Guh I just got my period. I should have brought some herbs. - She commented.

\- … That´s … a shame. Are you getting the cramps? - I asked.

\- What´s cramps? - She asked.

\- Stomach pains? From your period? - Alice looked at me with a confused look until she realized what I was talking about.

\- Oh I get it! No, monster period is different from human women. It signals the beginning of the reproduction cycle instead of the end. Also, we don´t get horrible pains and don´t bleed nearly has much. - Alice explained.

\- That´s sounds … better what human women get. - I said, still felling awkward about the conversation.

\- Yeah, it´s so bad for them that they sometimes have to rest entire days just because of the pain. - Alice said. I nodded in agreement. That´s something women did back in the village.

Alice noted the awkwardness of the conversation, coughed and quickly changed the topic of the conversation. - Anyway, I noticed you´ve been using the makashi form correctly, so I think is time I teach you a new skill to help with the lack of strength for this form.

\- What kind of technique is it? - I asked excitedly.

She unsheathed one of her swords. - You´ve seen this technique before, Granberia used it against in your match. It´s called death sword chaos star. Now, pay attention. – She ordered

Alice showed me the exact movements of said skill. Five quick strikes, each swing linked together. Alice still easily parried them all and tripped me with her tail making me fall on my back.

\- Sorry that was a reflex. - She said with a smile. - You learned this technique quite easily.

\- I paid attention when Granberia used it against me. - I confessed.

\- You understood how it works just by seeing her use once? - She asked. – I nodded. - Not bad. - She extended her arm. I took it and got up.

\- Does this skill have a morbid story too? - I asked.

\- There was once a swordsman called Galla. She could cut knights into pieces with this technique. - She explained.

\- That´s …

\- Which is bullshit! I tried it against plate armor and doesn´t do shit! And she died way before there was knighthood! - Alice complained and crossed her arms, pouting.

Okay … So this skill will help me with the lack of strength from the makashi form? - I asked.

Alice nodded. - Yes, but it doesn´t mean you can just ignore training with this form. In fact you should train even harder.

\- I will. I won´t disappoint you.

\- Good.

3 days later.

\- This is the forest? - I asked

\- This is the forest of spirits, yes. - Alice said.

\- This is a garden. - I retorted. In front there was a stone path, both sides were surrounded by rows of well-trimmed bushes, flowers and trees. The entrance to the ´´forest`` had two statues turning to each other, carved to look like elves.

\- You can see that´s inside a forest. - Alice said. I made a grunt in agreement. - Well, let´s go find sylph. - I said

We walked through the stone path, deeper into the garden, was we walked the garden it started to became more impressive, the serene scenario of verdant green and flowers of all colors and the occasional statue, all together made it quite a pleasant place.

\- This is nice, really nice, but where all the elves? I mean, elves usually frolic in the woods, right? – I said wondering.

\- Of course they do. They´re elves. - Alice responded. - But yeah, were are they? This should have a bunch of caretakers not mention fairies doing … fairies things.

\- Maybe they´re out for lunch? - I said jokingly. Alice just stared to me with a displeased face. - Sorry, bad joke. - I apologized. I turned my head to the side and notice something hiding in a flower. I went to the flower, a big purple one and moved its petals.

\- Aaaah! Please don´t eat me! I taste horribly! - It´s occupant plead. - Wait, you´re a human! I thought you all ran way. - It said surprised. It looked like tiny person, female, in a yellow dress except it had butterfly like wings and insect antennas on top of its head and its eyes were completely blue.

\- I´m sorry for scaring you. - I said softly. – Why are you hiding? - I asked her.

\- Everyone´s hiding from the evil plant that´s been terrorizing us? - She responded.

\- What evil plant? - I heard Alice ask. The fairy responded: - Some time ago a plant person showed up and started killing every elf and human that crossed her path. It was awful. It just ripped them apart. - She said with her voice trembling. - After that every human and elf that lived here ran away. Luckily it just ignores us, fairies and wonders around.

\- Interesting. Ask were sylph is. - Alice said.

\- Do you know where we can find sylph? - I asked the fairy. - Just keep going through this path until you see a pair of deer statues, then turn left until you get to a clearing with a statue of her, she usually hangs out in there.

\- Thanks for your help. - I said and the little fairy closed the flower petals.

\- Are you done talking? - Alice asked. - Why are you smiling?

\- It´s so cute! - I said, smiling. Alice shrugged her shoulders and rubbed the back of her head. - A little bit, maybe. - She said.

\- It´s so tiny and adorable! … Hold on how. How do fairies reproduce? - I suddenly realized. - I mean, how can they do, you know … with a human?

\- Fairies don´t reproduce like us. It involves using their magic and something like a couple dancing in the air I think. Don´t know much about them to be honest. They also don´t have genders. - Alice explain.

\- That´s weird. - I blurted out. - Let´s go find sylph.

We followed the directions given by the fairy, while on the path we noticed broken pots, statues, crushed vegetation and gardening tools left abandoned.

\- Do you think that the evil plant did this? - I asked Alice.

\- It's the most likely explanation. We should probably deal with it. Me especially. - She responded with a bland tone. - Looks like that´s the statue over there. Go ahead.

\- You´re not coming? - I asked her.

\- You´re the one who´s going to make the pact, not me. Besides, someone has to watch for that plant who´s been killing people. – Alice said.

I want to the clearing to meet with the spirit sylph. In the middle of the clearing, there was statue of what seemed like a child with weird ears.

\- Here´s the statue. But where´s the spirit?

\- Coming right up! - A voice said. Suddenly there was a rush of wind, making whirlwinds of leafs. I covered my eyes.

\- Here she is! The one and only! The spirit of wind, oh it´s just you.

I opened my eyes. In front of me stood a small ´´person``, she was much bigger than a fairy, didn´t have neither wings nor antennas. Her eyes were normal looking was well. She had a light green dress, gloves and pointy boots. Her hair was white and almost has long has her body. Her face look more like a face of a teenager than a child.

\- I thought people had come back, after the whole problem with the parasite plant. - She said.

\- No, the plant is still around, I think. The only people in here are the fairies. - I explained.

\- That´s an interesting sword you have there. - She said looking at the angel halo. - What´s your name?

\- My name is Luka and I …

\- No don´t tell me. I´ll ask the wind. - She said and closed her eyes and started humming. I was about to ask her what she was doing when she giggled and opened her eyes.

\- That´s interesting. Luka is from Ilias Village from the Ilias continent, he wanted to travel to see the world and in the beginning of his journey he met the monster lord and travelled with her. She convinced Luka to search for the four spirits to learn magic.

\- How did you know that? - I asked surprised.

\- The wind told me, of course. – She responded.

\- Is it alright? For you to teach me magic? – I asked

\- It´s a good reason has any. - She said. - But on one condition.

\- What´s the condition? - I asked.

Suddenly there was a burst of wind. - You have to grab me. - She said with a smile and her hands on her hips.

This is without a doubt a trick, I thought. I extended my arm to her. My hand was an inch from her before I was throw back by a strong wind. Predictable.

Sylph laughed. - Has long has I can keep my wind guard you can´t touch me. - She said proudly.

\- How long can you keep this up? - I asked.

\- About five minutes. - She responded. So I just to play the waiting game.

\- Come on. - She dared me.

…

\- I´m waiting.

…

\- Try again whenever you feel like.

…

The minutes passed started to become visibly tired, eventually the small breeze ceased, I took a gamble and it pays off.

\- Gotcha. - I say smiling, my hands around her waist. Sylph makes a pouting face has a response.

\- No fair! You cheated! Cheated! Cheated! Cheated! - She loudly complained.

\- Did not! You told me how long you could keep up your wind … thing and I just took advantage of it. - I explained.

She looked at me for a few seconds then smiled. - Okay you win. I´ll give you the power to use wind magic. - She said and extended her hand for a shake. I complied.

\- It´ll be fun to travel again. - She said. Wait. What? Before I could say anything, Sylph disappear in a flash of light.

\- Where did she go? - I asked to no one.

(I'm inside you. Next to your heart.)

\- What the hell? How? - I asked panicking.

(Relax. Just listen.)

\- What?

(Close your eyes, hear the wind.)

I closed my eyes and listen, has instructed. Almost instantly I could feel it, the presence of living creatures around us. The birds, the fairies, Alice, everything.

(Pretty neat huh? You get the ability to sense aura´s)

\- It's amazing. I never thought something like this was possible.

(You get to see the world in whole another perspective. Well, not really see.)

\- Is there some kind of disadvantage to this?

(Not really. The only way you can lose your powers is if I die.)

\- So, was long you´re inside me I can use magic right?

I heard her snicker. (Not exactly. The moment we made a pact you gained the ability to use wind magic. Me being inside of you just gives you a little boost. Enough chatting! Let´s go! You can learn magic was we travel.)

\- Alright, let's go. - I said. Alice will probably complained how bored she was waiting for me.

I left the clearing with my new ´´companion``. I found Alice sleeping in a bench. She looked so peaceful, I felt bad for having to disturb her sleep.

\- Alice it´s time to go. - I said softly, lightly shaking her shoulder. She moaned, and opened her eyes. She looked at me and around and quick got up. - I was just resting my eyes. - She said. - How did it go with sylph?

\- I got the ability to use wind magic but … - I was interrupted by Sylph appearing in a flash of light. - Hi there. I'm Sylph. You must be the current monster lord. Didn´t know those were still around. - She said shaking Alice hand.

\- What exactly happened in there? - Alice asked confused.

\- Apparently the pact involved letting her be close to my heart. - I explained.

\- Also we´re traveling together. It´s going to be so fun. - Sylph said before disappearing in another flash of light.

\- So, Sylph is inside you? - Alice asked.

\- Yes. – I answered.

\- It would be funnier if you´re a woman. - She said. I heard Sylph laugh. - Did you new tenant paid you with magic? – Alice asked.

\- I have to ability to sense aura´s and she said I can now use wind magic… - Shut up for second, there something wrong. - Alice said, interrupting me.

\- What is it? – I asked her.

\- Can´t you hear it?

\- Hear what?

\- The birds. They just stopped. Everywhere. – Alice said.

\- You´re right. Weird.

\- Be quiet. There´s something else. Listen carefully. – Alice said.

She has right about it too. There´s was definitely a sound. A sound of something being dragged. Or someone. The sound was getting closer, in fact it was just around corner. And then it´s source came into view.

It was what seem to be a bunch of vines and flowers tangled in a woman´s emaciated corpse, has it got closer we could see the ´´human`` part was breathing and twitching, its mouth moving slightly.

\- So that´s the monster who´s been causing all this mess? – I asked Alice.

\- That´s not a monster. - Alice said. - At least it doesn´t feel like one.

\- It´s not a monster? Then what … - I was interrupted by the plant person suddenly attacking us with it´s vines. Before I could unsheathe my sword, Alice cut the vines in pieces with her own sword.

\- You dare attack me! Do you have any idea who you´re dealing with? - Alice demanded. It didn´t respond. It just attacked with more vines. Alice cut all the vines in a single blur.

\- You´ll pay for this insolence! - Alice extend her free hand, palm opened, lighting sparked from the tip of her fingers, electricity hit the plant person, if it had any effect, it didn´t show.

\- Wow, she does not give a fuck. - Alice said surprised. Another pair of vines attempted to strike her. She cut them easily.

\- Try using a fire spell! - I said.

\- A fire spell in a forest? Great idea moron! - She said while dodging more vines, cutting one of them.

\- Do a spell that´s effective! - I said.

Alice grunted. - Luka, I need you to keep it busy for like 30 seconds while I prepare an ice spell. Can you do it? – She asked me

\- Yeah, you can count on me. - I said and darted to my opponent.

\- Use Sylph power! - Alice shouted.

\- Right! Alright Sylph I need your help.

(You can count on me buddy.)

I felt a whirlwind of wind come into existence around me.

\- Hey Soylent Green! - I shouted to plant person trying to get its attention. It worked. It turned to me.

\- You´re ugly! That´s right, come and get me. - I taunted it. It responded by attacking with its vines. Again. I dodged them easily. In fact, dodging better than ever. I kept dodging every strike like it was nothing. I also noticed the vines were being pushed back by the wind.

\- It´s all you got? Give me your best shot! - I taunted it again. The next attack never came has my opponent has suddenly encased in a block of ice.

\- … Or not. I guess we win. - I said. Alice suddenly smashed the block of ice with her tail leaving it in pieces.

\- Was that really necessary? - I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders. - Just in case it could still be alive when the ice melt. – She said.

\- You got rid of the monster! - A high pitched voice said. We turned and saw a group of three fairies floating with surprised looks.

\- You did it! We´re saved! - One of them said.

\- We can play again! - Another one said. They flew away leaving shiny dust has a trail.

\- Good to see we fix their problem. - Alice said.

We walked back to the entrance. Was we walked more fairies showed up thanking us and cheering us.

\- Hey, Alice I just realized something. – I said.

\- What is it? - She asked.

\- We´re heroes! Not heroes from the church, but real heroes! People who help other´s.

\- You´re right. It feels pretty good.

\- It sure does.

We reached the entrance of the garden, the number of trees decreased an open field standing in front of us.

\- So, what´s our next destination? - I asked.

\- The Safina region, specifically the capital of the Sabasa Kingdom. I can´t wait to try their dishes. - Alice said almost drooling.

(Yay! We can meet Gnome! She lives somewhere in the desert.)

\- Sounds good. Onward to Safina. – I said.

And so we continue our journey with a new companion.

End of chapter


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The witch´s village

It was night, past dinner, it was just me and Alice next to the fire. Sylph was already sleeping. She had quickly fell asleep after dinner. She had only eaten a biscuit, due to being so small she didn't need much nourishment, making Alice´s complaints futile.

There wasn't anything going on, so I decided to strike a conversation.

\- Hey Alice, tell me about your family.

\- What? – She asked, not bothering taking her eyes from her book.

\- Your family. You have one don´t you?

\- Of course I have. You´ve met Tamamo, remember?

\- I mean your birth mother. I assume she has the previous monster lord right?

\- She was. – Alice responded.

\- What was she like? – I asked her. Alice looked at me for a few moments, before talking. – You tell me first. – She said. – Tell you what first? – I asked.

\- About your parents. You lived on that house alone for what I could tell. So, what happened to your relatives? Tell me.

\- Alright, seems fair. – I said. – My only family I had been my mother. She died. I´ve never met my father either. Mom never liked to talk about him, who ever he was.

\- That explains why you were living alone when I met you. How did your mother died? – She asked.

\- Did you ever heard about the green fever? – I asked her.

\- No. – She responded.

\- It´s a plague. A person gets a fever and starts vomiting and end ups dying of …what is it called? The term for dying of lack of water?

\- Dehydration. – Alice answered.

\- Yeah that´s it. It strokes the village 12 years ago.

\- Thats awful. And your mother died from that? – Alice asked.

I took a few moments to answer. – Yes. A lot of people died from it and the ones who weren't still dead were quarantined in their homes. My mom died in her bed a day before the clerics arrived in the village and healed the sick. – I explained.

Alice was looking at me with a surprised look. – That´s … I´m sorry. – She said, a sad tone on her voice.

\- Don't be. – I said. – I got over it. Had other people in the village who helped me move on. - Your turn. Tell me about your family.

Alice sighed before speaking. – Fine. My mother has the previously monster lord. She died when I was five years old. She hanged herself.

\- Wow. I´m sorry Alice. – I said sympathetic.

\- Don't be. I got over it. Had Tamamo to take care of me. And I suppose with the time I made friends too – She responded.

I smiled. – So, any more relatives? – I asked.

\- No, it's was just my mother. The monster lord family has kept itself small since the second civil war.

\- So, you never met you´re father? – I ask her.

\- No, never met him. He has probably just a short romance for my mother. – She answered.

\- Does that mean you´re a royal bastard?

\- She looked at me with a confused look. – A what?

I shouldn't have asked that. – I´m sorry, I was out of the line. – I apologized.

\- No seriously, what did you say? A bastard? What´s that? – She asked me.

It was my turn to give her a confused look. – You serious don't know what it means?

\- No. Tell me. – She ordered.

\- It´s a word used to refer an illegitimate child. – I explain. She just looked at me with a blank look. – A person that´s born outside of a wedding.

\- Wouldn't that make you a bastard? – Alice asked. – Well, yes. But it only matters if its nobility or royal blood. – I responded. Alice rolled her eyes. – Fine. So, does it mean for someone of royal blood? – She asked.

\- Royal bastards aren't part of the family and aren't given any rights to inheritance, unless the parent recognizes it has his or her children, which is rare. And bastards are usually shunned by society. – I explained. Alice made a farting noise with her tongue.

\- That´s dumb! Treating a child like crap just because the parent's couldn't keep it in their pants … or skirts or whatever else they used to cover their privates. – Alice complained.

\- True. – I agreed. – How does monster society deal with it? – I asked her.

\- Well, illegitimate children (she said while making air quotes with her fingers) are pretty much common since single parents are the norm.

\- Right, the father is usually just a casual night most of the times. – I said remembering a previous conversation.

\- Yes but that's just when outsiders are involved. If it's a male from the village it´s not uncommon to have impregnated more than one woman and he usually maintains a connection with the child, even if it's outside of marriage bonds. – She said.

\- That´s much better than the way humans do. – I confessed.

-Of course it is. – Alice bragged. – It´s wrong to judge a child just because of her heritage. – She added. She then yawned. – I´m getting sleepy, so I´m going to bed if you don't mind.

\- Go right ahead. – I said. She got up, got her pillow and coiled herself close enough from the camp fire to feel the warm. I stayed awake for a bit longer until it my eyes started keeping tired and I decided to go to bed.

2 days later on the road to the Sabasa region.

\- You´re robbing us? – Alice asked trying to keep herself from laughing.

\- That's right you sexy thing. Handle me all your money and I'll let you both go – The Minotaur responded. Alice gave her a mock smile and a middle finger gesture. – You got guts. I like that in a woman. – The Minotaur said licking her lips.

Alice grunted in disgust. – Luka, take care of her. – She ordered me. I grumbled in protest but conceded. – Fine I´ll take care of her. – I said. I approached my opponent. She was tall and large. Then again, almost everyone is taller and larger than me.

She had a worn out leather vest over her clothes, also worn out and dirty. Her weapon was a boardaxe, the blade was chipped and blunt. Her most distinct features here cow-like tail and a pair of horns. The horns themselves were much smaller than depicted on the books. And she didn't look like a hideous half bull half man creature like in that one story about a labyrinth and a ball of yarn.

Back to the Minotaur in question, she snorted was I approached her. – What? You´re going to fight me? – She mocked me. – I´m just going beat you up then have a little ´´fun" with your friend. I´ll let you watch. – She said.

This is getting obscene. I gave the first strike, closed the distance with wind magic and attacked with thunder trust giving her a cut in the left cheek. She quickly took a step back. Her surprised look turned into an expression of anger.

\- You cunt! – She shouted. She strokes with her axe and I dodged her blow. She attempted another strike and I dodged again and gave her cut in the neck. – Manners! That was a very naughty word. – I mocked. She roared and swung her axe, I ducked and gave her a cut in the right arm.

My opponent let another roar, this time louder and started to swing her axe wildly. I dodged her strikes and parried the last swung, making her lose her balance. I quickly gave her to hits on her left leg, making her yelp in pain. – Your foot position is all wrong. – I instructed her.

The fight went like this for a while. I kept dodging and parrying her ineffectual strikes and hitting and slashing her. Soon the ability of the angel halo started to take effect, her movements became more sluggish and she started to sweat and breathing heavily.

I decided it was time to end the fight, by using a trick that sylph taught me. Concentrate wind magic on the palm of the hand and wait until you feel a wind brushing your face and then release it. I extended my arm ´´throwing" my spell at my opponent. A strong burst of wind send hurling through the air, she even spins before she collided face to face with the hard ground. The only thing she could say was a whine of pain.

\- I guess the fight is over. – I said was I sheathe the angel halo.

\- Honestly, what a pathetic fight. – Alice said. – I bet she thought having a weapon has enough to bully anyone she wanted.

\- I guess so. – I responded, shrugging my shoulders. – She didn't seem to have any practice with it. – I added.

\- Like I said. Pathetic. Let´s keep going. – Alice said. We continue our walking pace before we interrupted by the Minotaur. The Minotaur. Ilias teaching said that Minotaur´s were a race of near invincible savages. And this one was nothing more than a common bandit. Ilias teaching were wrong once again, but I´m not going to tell that to Alice. It would be just another excuse for her to gloat. And speaking of the bandit...

\- Hey, Alice?

\- What?

\- The bandit was a monster. Since you're the Monster Lord couldn't you tell her to stop, well, being a bandit? – I asked.

Alice turned her head to me. – Do kings go around telling bandits to stop being criminals and go back to their homes? – She asked me.

\- Well, no – I responded.

\- And if they did, do you think the criminals would actually do it? – She asked me again.

\- I don't think so. – I responded.

\- Exactly. Also, these lands aren't part of the monster nations, so I don't have any power in here. – She added.

\- You make a good point. – I said.

\- Of course I do. I´m always right. – She said with pride. You could do with a bit more of humility Alice.

Later at the campfire

\- I don't understand. – I said.

\- You have to play with the wind. – Sylph said.

\- You´re not making any sense. – I said.

\- What she´s trying to say is that when you use wind magic to dodge let the wind carry you. – Alice explained.

-So, when I dodge, if I left the wind do most of the work It´s more effective? – I asked.

\- Yes that's exactly it. – Alice confirmed.

\- Yeah like I said. You have to play with the wind. – Sylph said.

\- Right, and practice without Sylph. – Alice added.

\- Why? Won't having her inside of me help learn faster? – I asked. Sylph laughed.

\- No, making the pact is what makes it easy to learn. And having her with you gives you a boost but that doesn't mean you can rely on her all the time. – Alice explained. Sylph nodded in agreement.

\- Alright I´ll practice the way you told me. Can you watch the pot?

\- Yeah I´ll watch it does't worry, go practice. – Alice said.

I left Alice and Sylph next the fire and walked a few meters and started practicing my swords skills with wind magic. By the time I was finished, Alice was serving her meal and Sylph has finishing eating an entire carrot.

\- I think I´m getting the hang of it. Moving with the wind I mean. – I said while serving myself from the stew pot.

\- Yeah, I saw you. You´re doing much better than before. – Alice said.

\- Really?! – I asked in excitement. Alice nodded her head while chewing. – Is it supposed to be this easy? – I asked her.

\- Learning how to use the wind to move is a much easier step to learn than how to use basic wind magic. – Alice explain. – Without Sylph it would take you weeks to learn it. Months even, if you aren't magically gifted. – Alice said turning her eyes to Sylph. She was already laying down and seem to be already sleeping.

\- Good thing I was able to convince her. – I said. – Alice nodded in agreement. After that the conversation died. The only sound has the fire cracking and our utensils. Eventually I decided to ask the first thing I could think of.

\- Have you ever killed anyone? - I asked her. Alice had already finished her meal and has drinking her surrapa from a bottle. – She stopped mid-drink, looked at me for a moment and then swallowed her beverage. – You know I have. Remember the plant thing back in the forest spirits? – She asked me.

\- Oh that´s right. You encased it in ice. – I said. I thought about it for a moment. – You didn't seem bothered by the fact that you killed it. Have you killed before that?

Alice looked at me with an annoyed face.

\- I´m sorry if it's a sensitive subject. – I apologized. – Alice rolled her eyes. – No it´s fine, I´m not bothered. – She answered. She took a deep breath before telling her story.

\- When I was 15, back when Tamamo has still teaching me, she took me to a dungeon. She gave a dagger and told me to kill one of the inmates, a child rapist that was going to be hanged the next day. I cut his throat. – She took a drink from her bottle. – And if you're wondering, no, I didn't take any pleasure in doing it.

\- How could she make do something like that? – I protested. – Aren't you like a daughter to her?

\- The whole point has to not feel good when sentencing someone to death. ´´Has the Monster Lord you must upload the law, no matter how unpleasant it is ". – She said imitating Tamamo voice.

\- Still, making you kill someone like that doesn't seem right. – I protested again.

\- I executed a child rapist. Do you think he deserved freedom after what he did? – She asked with a serious look. – Hum, no I didn't. – I confessed.

\- Exactly. Discussion over. – She said and went about finishing her drink.

3 days later

\- What a tense atmosphere. – Alice commented.

\- Yeah, everyone's giving us shifting looks. You didn't forget to transform did you? – I asked jokingly.

\- Of course not. – She responded.

We´re close to the Sabasa border and needed what Alice called desert gear to travel in the desert. So. on our way, we stopped by a village called witch´s village. When we got there, we were stopped by a couple of guards telling's that they wanted to see if we were witches by sticking a pin in the index finger and seeing if we bleed. Alice took no time in using her hypnosis spell, putting them in a trance. She asked them what the deal with the witch accusation was. They said that the baroness of the village was paying them to arrest every outsider that showed up (even some villagers) and take them to manor´s dungeon. They didn't know why, they were just paid for it. We left them standing there, hypnotized, and made our away inside the village, looking for the local merchant. People keep giving us glares has we walked and the merchant wasn't very nice either.

\- I don't do business with outsiders! Out of my store! – He shouted and closed the door on us.

Alice took a deep breath before speaking. – Well, let´s go meet the baroness, talk about her village rudeness.

\- You´re alright Alice? – I asked her.

\- Oh, I´m boiling with rage. – She said with a smile. – Once we get what we want everything will be fine.

We made our way to the baroness manor. It´s was much smaller that the hunted one, but unlike it, the outside seem to be in pretty good condition although, all the windows were shut.

\- Can you feel that? – Alice asked with a concerned tone.

\- Feel what? – I asked.

\- Inside this place someone´s been conducting magic rituals with blood magic, recently in fact.

Before I could ask anything, a bunch of guards surrounded us, carrying weapons, expecting a fight.

\- Luka, Duck! – Alice ordered.

\- What? – I asked.

\- Duck! – She shouted.

I instantly did have she said. Alice extended her arms, to the sides, and cast lighting from the tip of her fingers, hitting the men surrounding us. When I looked up, they were all on the ground, twitching, but still alive.

\- Don't worry, they just won't be able to get up for a few minutes. Just enough time so that they won't bother us. – She reassured me.

\- That was a bit overkill Alice. – I said, getting up.

\- If they are involved with blood magic, then they deserve worse much worse than this. – She responded with a serious tone. She can be scary sometimes.

We entered the manor. The inside was severely dusty and dark. The only light source came from small rays of light from the outside and an inside source farther inside the house. We followed the source and found that it came from what seem to be a library. I opened the door. Inside there was a woman. She looked up from a book and made a surprised face.

\- Who are you two? – She asked has she got up. – How did you get in? - She asked again. The woman was stunning. She was quite beautiful, young, with green hair and a green dress which helped accentuate her natural curves and her large breasts.

\- We´re here to stop you from doing any more blood magic sorceress, or whatever other word the people around here use. – Alice said, striking a pose.

The woman cocked her head to the side. – You´re a monster, I can sense it. – She said, a smile forming on her lips. – Perfect! – She said suddenly with enthusiasm. – I can´t what to see what my experiences can do to your body.

\- I´m going have to refuse you´re offer. – Alice responded with a threatening tone.

\- Me too. Count me out. – I added.

The woman gave a mischievous smile. – It´s not an offer – The woman said. She extended her left arm and cast green lighting from her hand, Alice blocked it with a magic barrier. The woman tried the same spell and Alice blocked again with the barrier. Alice then used wind magic to close the distance between her and the woman and kicked her in the stomach making her drop to her knees and gasp for air.

Before she could anything, Alice grabbed her and threw her across the room. The woman quickly regain senses and bolted to the door. I tried blocking her but she extended some kind of pink appendage from her sleeve, grabbing me and throwing me out of her way.

\- Luka! Get up! We have to catch her! – Alice said before running to catch her. I got up and joined her in the chase.

\- D-did you see that? She hit me with a tentacle.

\- Yeah, I noticed. – Alice responded. – I think she´s been using blood magic on herself.

\- So, blood magic makes a person gain pink fleshy tentacles? – I asked.

\- Something like that. – Alice responded. Not a very good answer, I thought.

We kept chasing the noise of our target, until we reach an open door with stone stairs, leading downward, the sound from the sorceress running could be heard coming from the bottom.

-So, this must lead to the dungeon we heard about. – Alice said.

\- You think the kidnapped people are down there? – I asked her.

\- That´s obvious, isn't it? – Alice retorted. – Let´s go. – She ordered.

We descended the stairs with only the light from the torches in the wall to guide us.

\- Hey, Alice? – I said.

\- What is it? – She asked.

\- Since we entered this place, I´ve been getting a weird sensation, like sensing something familiar. – I explained.

\- Have you also occasionally felt a foreign taste but somewhat recognizable? – She asked.

\- Now that you mentioned, yes I have.

\- Good, it means you´re becoming able to sense magical energy. – Alice explained.

\- Really? That´s awesome! – I said excitedly.

Have we reached the bottom of the stairs we found ourselves in front of a half-open door. From behind it we could we hear the sound of moaning and crying coupled with an awful smell. I gulped before we entered. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

What the hell is this? – I asked. The room has filled with people chained to the walls, all of them had some kind of deformed appendage, most of them seem to be in a lot of pain. There were some kind of pink creatures with a lot of tentacles, latched to the walls and ceiling. There were buckets next to the prisoners, all overflowing with crap.

\- This is blood magic gone rampant. A particular nasty case. – Alice said. I couldn't take it anymore and vomited my lunch on the already filthy floor. Alice said something but I wasn't paying attention to her. After a few moments my stomach calmed down and I got back on my feet.

\- We need to stop her. – I said. – I can sense her. She´s probably beyond that door at the end of this ... chamber. – Alice said. – Go get her.

\- Me? Alone? – I asked. – She doesn't seem to be a fighter so has long has you can take her down before she cast a strong spell, if she was any you´ll be fine. While you do that I´ll make a ritual to nullify what she´s done to these people. – Alice explained.

I nodded, agreeing silently with her plan and darted to the door.

Alice left alone, look around at floor then took a piece of chalk from one of her pockets. – Now, how has it? Was it a circle inside a square or square inside a circle?

I walked through the door, halfway open, into a room half the size of the previous room. The witch has in front of a long wooden desk filled with papers, drinking from a vial.

\- You? – The witch said surprised. - I was expecting the other one. The woman.

\- Why? Why did you those things to all those people? – I demanded with my hand grabbing the hilt of my sword. She gave me puzzled look. – Why? I needed test subjects for my trials of course. – She answered.

\- That´s it? You hurt all those innocent people just for your sick experiments? – I asked. She laughed. – Why would I care if they´re innocent? They´re just test subjects.

\- You vile m ... What the hell is wrong with your arms? – I asked pointing at her left arm which was at the moment, for a lack of other word, bubbling.

\- That´s just the effects of my mixture. – She responded with a malicious smile. She didn't seem to be bothered by her current condition.

\- What m-. – Before I could finish my question her arms melted, in their place tentacles grew, pink and fleshy like the prisoners, 2 on the right side one of them with a suction cup and four on the right side. The witch examined her new appendages.

\- Not how I wanted it, with the asymmetry and all, but it will do for now. – She said and then turn her eyes to me. I had my mouth agape, during the whole ordeal, closed the moment she looked back to me and unsheathed the angel halo. – And it will be interesting to see the effects on someone with magical aptitude once I capture you and your friend. – She added.

I glared and tightened the grip of my weapon. – That´s not going to happen. – I said.

The witch whipped one of her tentacles in my direction, I instinctively actived my wind magic and dodged it, run to her to strike her with thunder trust, she stopped me by attempting to hit me with three of her tentacles, I easily avoid them by quickly backing away. She attacked with another tentacle and I instinctively parried it with my weapon, resulting in said tentacle being cut, the cut part fell to the ground, flopping for a few seconds. It was pointless, has the damaged tentacle grew back it´s severed extremity. Still, kinda odd how fragile it is and how easily it was cut since the halo of my weapon is the only sharp part.

''That´s because I´m helping you.'' – I heard Sylph say. – ''Oh, thanks. What exactly are you doing?'' – I asked her. I actually think the question instead of saying it. I´m still not sure how she hears me but she does.

''I´m just using the wind to give you an edge. It´s something you´ll learn, if you live after this fight.'' – She responded back.

''What do you mean by that?'' – I asked her.

''You should really start paying attention to your opponent.''

One of the tentacles suddenly hit me in stomach with enough force to threw me to the other side of the room. In hindsight, it´s a good thing I already vomited or else I would have puked again. I quickly got up was the witch walked to me with a victory smile, I quickly dashed to her, in an attempt to strike her. With the power of wind magic, I was in front of her in an instant ready to strike with the demon decapitation technique but she recoiled back instead of hitting her like I intended, I accidentally destroyed the dress straps letting the higher part of her dress fall down revealing her breasts. This only made her mad has she started to fling her arm-tentacles wildly. I went back to dodging her attacks.

\- Stand still so I can hit you! – Shouted the witch.

\- No! – I shouted back.

Suddenly our fight is interrupted by a blinding light coming from the prisoners room. Has the light became stronger I felt a warm emanating from the room. Was this Alice´s doing? The light quickly faded away. My vision adjusted itself and I quickly focused back to my opponent. She was staring at the open door with a surprised look. She looked back at me, her face turning into an angry scowl.

\- You! What did you do? – She asked me furiously. I glared at her. – I don't know what you are talking about.

\- Then it must have been the other one. If she did something to my test subjects she will suffer.

\- Honestly Luca. – Alice said has she entered the room, in her normal look. – You haven't beaten that awful witch? What ... – She stopped has soon has she saw said witch. - ... the hell? – She turned her eyes to me. – Luca what did you do?

\- Me? It´s not my fault. She drank something. – I protested.

\- So you´re a Lamia? – The witch asked. – Very interesting, I´ve never heard of lamas having horns.

\- Be quiet, we´re having a conversation here. Rude. – Alice said. The witch glared and stroke with one of her tentacles. Alice grabbed it, unsheathed one of her swords and cut it. The witch backed way a look of panic in her face.

\- Fine, I´ll deal with you. Luca, stay out of this, I´ll handler her myself. – She ordered me. She then unsheathed one of her other swords. The blades then spurted flames has she slither to the witch.

Not going to lie, Alice dual wielding flaming swords might be the coolest thing I´ve seen.

Has Alice approached her the witch attempt to strike her several times, Alice dodged her attacks leaving blurs behind. So that´s why she was complaining about me dodging. Their fight became a reversal of the previous. The witch kept backing away, striking with her tentacles Alice would dodge them and cutting them.

\- What´s the matter getting tired? – Alice asked. – Running out of tentacles? Why do you need them? Are you trying to please your girlfriend fetish?

\- Shut up! – The witch yelled. The tentacle with the suction cup hit Alice in face, latching to her left cheek. – Get your weird thing out of my face! – Alice shouted. She attempts to cut the tentacle but both her arms were stopped, each getting grabbed by a tentacle by the wrist. Alice used her tail to rip the suction cup tentacle right from the socket. This gave a moment of advantage to the witch, she grabbed Alice´s neck with one of her tentacles and started squeezing it. Alice started to trash about trying to rid herself of the tentacle, throwing her opponent all over the room, with the tentacles gripped to her. In one of her thrashings, the witch end up next to me, I took advantage of the situation and attacked her with my weapon, hitting her on her left ribs. Something cracked, probably said ribs, she yelled in pain, releasing Alice. She then turned to me and hit me in the face with one of her tentacles, making me fall to the ground disoriented. Alice then, grabbed her by the neck, and using her magic, electrocuted the witch. She screamed in pain again, louder. Alice then dropped her grabbed the angel halo and started cutting the tentacles and hitting her.

When I recovered my senses, Alice was standing next to the unconscious witch, breathing heavily and holding the angel halo. – Well, I´ll admit it. That wasn't a very glamorous fight. – Alice said with a half laugh. She gave me back the angel halo and went to retrieve her swords. I took a closer look at the witch, her body was covered with bruises and her tentacles had reversed back to arms, but they were longer, skinnier and paler. The finger were longer than normal twice has long, the nails were missing making them look like they were claws.

\- What about the prisoners, are they alright? – I asked Alice.

\- Huh? Oh, they´re fine. I sealed the effects of the blood magic with a ritual. They might have a bit of amnesia but I think they´re actually just confused about the situation. – Alice explained while sheathing her swords back into their scabbards.

\- What about her? – I asked. – We take her outside so the villagers can decide on her punishment. – Alice responded. – They will probably want her dead but she deserves it. – She added. I nodded in agreement.

\- We should help the people leaving the house. - I said. Alice grabbed the witch and slung over her shoulder, to carry her. – Good idea go help them. Try not to step on shit. – Alice said.

Over an hour later we´re leaving the village with our newly acquired desert gear, which were just robes to keep the sand out. After we rescued the prisoners, Alice explained that the baroness had been capturing and torturing people for her amusing (she didn't mention anything about the blood magic). The villagers quickly apprehended the witch and her men.

We asked for a reward (Alice did anyway), they gave us the desert gear, supplies, and a map for the desert. After that, the villagers started building a bonfire to burn the witch and her minions. We decided to quietly leave the village, we really didn't want to see someone burn to death.

\- So if we go north from here we can join in with a merchant´s caravan at traveler´s pass into the desert. – I said while studying the map.

\- Seems like it´s the best way. Safety in numbers. – Alice commented.

\- Well then! Onwards! – I said pumping my fist into the hair. I look at Alice. – Aren´t you going to do it?

\- No. – Alice responded bluntly.

\- Come on do it. It´s fun, hey wait for me!

End of Chapter

* * *

Well look at that, I managed to stay focused long enough to finish this chapter.

But seriously though, I got writer block for while and just didn't know how to finish this chapter. I´m still writing, so the next chapter will be up eventually.

So, until next time. ;)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The desert, part 1

* * *

In an unknown location

She walked to main chamber, the steel door automatically slide open. Everything in this place is made of steel the walls, floor and ceiling and even some of the equipment. She wonders where they got all the steel to make this place. Wouldn't stone be enough?

In the center of the chamber was Laplace was seated looking at one of her (or is it?) screens. Laplace was a strange creature made mostly of a material called plastic and some types of metal, the only organic part she had has half of her brain.

\- Statement: Good morning Lucia. You have received my message. – She said in her monotone voice.

\- Yes I did LaPlace. – Responded Lucia back. – What did you wanted to tell me?

LaPlace kept her eyes, or her optic sensors to be correct has she talked. – I wanted to inform me you that Lily is dead.

\- That´s a shame, I guess. It´s not like we were financing her anymore. We got the data we wanted from her wasteful experiments months ago. – Lucia said.

\- Statement: Yes, I´m quite aware. Addendum: The strange part is that all of her test subjects had all of their mutations sealed with what I believe was a ritual spell.

Lucia took her hand to her chin. – That's not exactly strange. We knew that the mutations could be reversed by a sufficiently powerful ritual. The real question is who could be powerful enough to do it.

\- Statement: It may have been that it was the monster lord. Three of her theoretical paths took her to the village.

\- Does she know about us?

\- Statement: Unlikely, the lab in Hellgondo wasn't been breached. Addendum: Neither was this one.

\- We were lucky that no one found out about this place after the hybrid escaped and wrecked havoc on the forest.

\- Annoyed Statement: Yes I know, there´s no need for you to tell me. Addendum: I have already put several security protocols to avoid this kind of accident again.

\- Is that all? When you called me I thought you had bad news about Promestein trip to hell.

\- Statement: No updates. She´s still looking for a test subject. Addendum: She wasn't encounter the Seraph either.

\- What was the point of me coming here then? You could have just send me a message. – Lucia protested.

\- Statement: It has been 2 days, 13 and 48 minutes since I last saw you. Addendum: I wanted to see how you were doing.

\- Is that so? – Lucia asked with sarcasm in her voice.

\- Mocking statement: Scanners show you have gain 2 kilos and 193 grams. You should avoid sweets.

\- Fuck off! My weight is none of your concerned. – Lucia shouted angrily, making a middle finger gesture before leaving the room.

\- Mocking statement: Come back any time.

* * *

I hate the desert.

That´s something I decided on our first day traveling in it, with its horrible heat during the day and the freezing cold during the night. The family leading the caravan was nice enough to let´s sleep in one of their big enough round tents. Maybe it was because of the giant scorpions we fought in the first day.

That´s another thing I hate about the desert. The giant scorpions. They attack every day, several times, burrowing from the sand without warning, in groups of 2 and 3. Fortunately they aren't tough. Stabbing them is enough.

After a week of travel we departed from the caravan was we wanted to go north to the capital while they wanted to go south, to make business in the coastal towns and the elf settlements. When I asked about the elfs, Alice explained that there was a monster kingdom in the islands. The family leading the caravans left us money and some supplies.

We were simply going to follow the river until we reach the city, but Alice decided that she wanted to make a detour to see some underground ruins. She wouldn't take no has an answer. After two hours of walking we reached a cave entrance surrounded by pillars with some unknown language.

The entrance was being guarded by a group of bandits. The moment they saw us they unsheathed their weapons, ready to kill us and take all we had. Alice turned into her normal form and threaten to turn them all into frogs. They quickly went back to what they were doing before.

Have we approached the entrance of the cave we were stopped by who we assume, has the leader of the bandits since he was better equipped than the rest.

\- I would advise you, fine travelers to go back, its dangerous. – He said.

\- What´s dangerous about it? – I asked.

\- There´s a dangerous ... monster in there. – He responded.

\- What kind of monster is it? – Alice asked this time. The man gave a small smile. – If you fine adventurers want to know it ill cost you. – He said, rubbing his fingers. Alice let out a grunt.

\- Lucas, give him a coin. – She ordered. I took a coin (from the merchants' payment) from one my pockets and gave it to him. He took a long look at it then stuffed it in his pocket. – It´s made of metal, with legs like a spider and swords in place of arms.

\- So it´s not a monster, it´s actually a construct. Doesn't matter, were still going in– Alice said. The man cocked he´s head. – I don't care what actually is called. But if you´ve decided to go in I can tell you how to avoid the monster. For a small price of course. – He said smiling again.

\- Pass. Let´s go Lucas.

We entered the cave, a few meters inside became pitch black and we had to use the torches with Alice fire magic. With our path illuminated we could see the layout of the cave. It seems to be man made with more weird writing and mosaics covering the walls. All of it either to damaged or faded away by time.

\- So Alice, what's a construct? – I asked breaking the silence.

\- What? Oh, its like the doll back in the ... – she inhaled before continuing. – ... mansion. An inanimate object given a kind of rough sentience through magic except a construct is usually made of some kind of metal. But that man was lying. I bet the only dangerous thing were going to find here are more scorpions. Speaking of scorpions. – Alice stopped slithering. – There´s one right there. – She pointed at a dark corner.

I forced my eyes. I could see the silhouette of the creature and the familiar the sound of it´s pincers.

\- Go kill it. – Alice ordered. I shrugged my shoulders and complied. It´s not like killing these things is difficult. I approached the creature, unsheathing my steel sword. The light illuminated it, it was completely white with red eyes and slightly bigger than the usual scorpion. It shudders and it raised its tail. I darted to its side and quickly stabbed him. It shrieked in pain. I kept stabbing it while avoiding its tail. Needing to hold a torch in one hand made it necessary to stabbed it a few more times. It eventually gave its last shriek and collapsed but not before spitting out something, which hit the ground with a metallic sound.

\- Hey Alice come see this.

\- What is it? – Alice asked has she approached me.

\- The scorpion spit out this ... axe.

\- Huh, weird. Why would it spit an axe? – She asked.

\- I don't know. Seems like it´s just a normal axe. – I responded.

\- Maybe it´s cursed! – She said. I took a step back. – Really? – I asked

\- I´m not really sure, but I wouldn't touch something that has been vomited by an animal.

\- Then lets just leave it there and keep going. – I said. – Agreed, lets go. – Alice said and we continued walking. We walked for over an hour, during that time we found two recent corpses their bodies full of lacerations, what was left of their clothes resembled the bandit´s own. Still, Alice was skeptical about the construct story. Eventually, the long corridor ended in an enormous circular room with two floors. The room was in the same state has overly long corridor, every work of art in it had either faded or crumbled beyond recognition.

\- Finally, something that isn't just a linear corridor! – I said sitting down to rest, next to what used to be a big statue in the middle of the room, now it was just the legs left. – So, about this place, surely you must know something. – I asked.

\- I know, and don't call me Shirley. - Alice responded. – It´s part of a trade route from a civilization long gone that ruled all the Sabasa plus a bit of Senora, it´s name was forgotten. According to historians it was the predecessor of the Sabasa Kingdom and the free cities. – She explained.

\- That´s cool. – I said before drinking from my canteen. – What does the writing all over the place says? Looks eligible enough.

\- I have no idea. The civilization is so old that there´s no one left to teach how to read it. It a shame ... No fucking way! – Alice suddenly yelled.

\- What is it?

\- Come see this! Quickly!

I got up and circled the statue in time to see Alice throw the upper half of corpse away from her with her tail. I turned my eyes to what she had called my attention to. – Wow! That guy wasn't lying about it!

Next to Alice laid the remains of what looked like the construct described to us. Made of metal with a red-yellowish color, it´s lower arms were blades blunt and rusted, its head looked like a helmet but not like any helmet I had ever seen. Smooth and angular, with only two holes for the eyes. Its lower body, Four members ending in pointing ends, separated from the rest due to damage. The shoulders and upper torso were covered with markings.

\- Is it dead? – I asked.

\- Dead isn't the word I would use but yes it is. – Alice responded. – Look at those markings. They look like runes.

\- To protect it from magic, right? – I asked, remembering one of our conversions.

\- Yes, I wonder how resistant to magic it was. – She said lost in thought. She then raised her head and her ears twitched. – Did you hear something? – She asked, turning her head to me.

\- I did. I think something´s coming. – I responded. The sound in question became larger, coming from the large corridor opposite of the one we came from. After a couple of seconds the source of the sound enter the room. Another construct. Unlike the previous one, this one looked quite alive (if it can be described with that word). I could also hear a whirring sound emanating from it.

\- That´s so cool! – Alice said loudly. That made the construct turned it´s head in our direction, it´s eyes were bright like flames. It turns the rest of it´s body, raised its bladed arms and charges to us. I unseated my steel sword and went to my combat stance. Alice cast a lighting spell, with a large grin in her face. The spell hit the construct, it writhed and collapsed, the light from its eyes died out. Alice gave a disappointed frown.

\- Ah, I thought it would more resistant. – She said, disappointed. – Oh well. – She shrugged. She slithered to it, eyes full of curiosity. The construct eyes flared up, it´s whirring sound returned. I darted to Alice side. – Stay back! – She warned me. – I´ll handle this. – She then unsheathed on of her swords and put her self in a battle stance. I left her side and went to base of the statue, to avoid being in the middle of the fight. The construct attacked, with slashing motions, Alice backed away and dodged it´s attacks. This went for a while, the construct attacking with slashing and piercing attacks and Alice avoiding them and striking back when any openings came up. Alice eventually decided to went for the big attack. Wind magic flowed through her blade she strokes when an opening revealed itself, slicing through its neck, the head of the construct has separated from the rest of the body and it fell to the ground rolling, the light from its eyes died out again. Alice gave a victory pose. The construct, now headless charged. Alice expression turn into one of realization and panic. She darted to the side, avoiding it. The construct kept running until it hit the wall, it then started hitting it. Alice scratched her head in confusion, shrugged her shoulders went to construct and slashed it with the same technique has before, separating its torso from it´s legs. The whirring sound died out again, this time it stayed silenced.

\- Well, that was thing! – Alice said, poking it. She turned and went to me. – Well lets see where it came from. Maybe there´s more. Come on. – She then walked into the corridor. I just followed her. In the next corridor we didn't have to walk too much until find something new, a doorway, for an armory full of constructs but these one´s were disassembled. There also several weird weapons, all rusted and beyond use. Alice saw the constructs went right to them. I took a look at the weapons.

\- What are these made of? I can't really tell. – I asked grabbing the shaft of a rusted axe. The head snapped in half.

\- It´s made of bronze like half of everything in this place. – Alice responded while trying to read a scroll has it fell apart in her hands. – Bronze huh? Never heard of weapons being made of bronze. – I said, putting what was left of the weapon back in it´s place.

\- They´re made of bronze a long time ago before steel was invented. – Alice explained, this time, while looking at pieces of the constructs. I kept looking around until my eyes recognized something. – Oh look its one of those object the merchant family used for light. How was it called again? – I asked before grabbing it and rubbing it.

\- It´s called an oil lamp you dummy. – She said before turning to me. – You´re trying to summon a djinn? – She asked me. – What´s that? – I asked back.

\- It´s a mythological creature in Sabasa culture, a magic being made of smoke and fire.

\- What, like dragons?

\- No, they´re supposed to be more like divine beings.

\- And they live inside lamps? – I asked, still confused. – Nah, that's just from a children book I read when I was younger, a djinn that was trapped inside a lamp and had to grant wishes when summoned. – She explained then went back to her things. I put the lamp back to its place and to went to another room. This room was small office with desk and shelves full of aging scrolls. The only thing of note was being used has a paperweight for the large pile of scrolls in the desk. A large yellow orb, with some light shining in the center,

\- Hey Alice, look what I just found. – I said while carrying it has I left the small room. – It´s an orb like the one we have except it´s yellow. I can fell some kind of warmth from it.

Alice took the orb from my hands and looked at it from several angles for a few moments then smiled. – I´m surprised. How did something like this ended up in a place like this? Put it in the bag with the other. – She said, handling back to me. I opened the bag of holding put the orb in it.

\- Found anything else? – She asked. – No, just more old scrolls and dust. – I answered. – Then let´s keep going – She said.

We left the room and continued walking the corridor. There were more rooms like the previous one but we didn't bothered searching them since nothing else tried to attack us. After a couple minutes we finally reached what was left of the ancient trade city. Only part of the walls of some of the buildings were still standing illuminated by crackings from the ceiling of the gigantic cave. We were in what used to be the center of the city. Alice was looking around and I was studying the map trying to figure out how to reach the capital.

\- Well this is not exactly what I expected to see. In hindsight, I should´t have expected the architecture of a civilization that died out a millennial ago to be able to stand the test of time. – She said.

\- Yeah that´s a real shame. – I mumbled. – Also, we want to go east if want to find the river. – Alice said while looking to the map, over my shoulder. – What? – I asked. – When we leave this cave we want to go east to find the river and then follow it north until we reach the capital. – She explained. – We can leave through there. – She said, pointing at a broken pathway made of stone leading to a pair of huge half open doors with rays of sunlight coming from beyond it.

\- Alright let´s go. – I said. – We went through the large doors, the never ending desert standing in front of us with its horrible heat. Following Alice directions we found the river and continued our original path. We reached the capital boundaries at end of the day, the city was an amazing city, it dwarfed San Illias and Iliasburg together with long miles of fertile farmland spawning both sides of the river.

\- This is a much better sight. The sunset makes the city looks so beautiful. It kind of looks like a painting. – Alice said, smiling.

\- You do realize we still have to get over the river to get to city, right? – I asked her. She waved her hand at me. – A small detail. We´ll just ask someone for a ride.

* * *

Finding passage wasn't hard, fortunately. Good manners can help a lot. By the time we were inside the city, night had already fallen. Our tired feet took us to a huge inn for wealthy people. Alice, not wanting to search for a cheaper place used her mind trick spell to get a free room. I protested has we ascended the stairs to our suite (what they called our room) but after I got into the bathtub, all my reservations faded away.

I got out of the bath and looked at my reflection. I hadn't had the chance to look at a mirror since we entered the desert. The first thing I noticed was my tanned face. I´ve had a lot of tans in my life while working in the fields during the summer but, it's a bit funny seeing the difference in color between my face and the rest of my body. My hair had grown a bit longer and a bit of hair has noticeable in my jaw. I´m not going to bother shaving since I cut myself easily while doing it and my facial hair is slow to grow.

I finished drying myself with the towel, put my clothes and left the bathroom. I enter them main bedroom of the suite. Alice was sitting down in front of mirror, tying her hair in a ponytail.

\- I feel so much better now! – I said letting out a sigh. I searched the room with my eyes looking for our tiny companion. – Where´s Slyph? I can't sense her.

\- She said that she was going to the garden we passed by. – Alice said, finishing tying her hair in a long ponytail. Her face was tanned, a darker purple than the rest of her body. – Hey, your hair is less spiky. – She said, stroking it.

\- Yeah I washed it. – I responded. She smelled my hair. – Smells good.

\- Thanks? Did Slyph said why she went to garden. - She said she was going to communicate with the wind to find the Gnome´s location. She´s probably in some random spot in the desert I bet. We could probably find some information in the city library but I presume that anything about a location will be outdated ... but you prefer to look at my breasts instead.

\- What?! No I wasn't! – I said turning my eyes away from her chest.

\- Yes you were. – She mocked with a singing tone. - I´ve seen you looking at them every time I took my armor thinking I couldn't tell.

\- I don't know what you´re talking about. – I responded

\- Don't even bother denying it.

\- I would I even want to look at your breasts? I´ve already seen and touched a lot of breasts! – I said taking a step closer to her. I felt my face blush.

Alice rolled her eyes at my outburst. – Oh really? So how do breasts feel like then?

\- They feel soft like ... like bags of sand! – Alice scoffed. – Mother of all you´re a terrible liar. – Alice said. A mischievous smile formed in her lips. – Would you like to touch them? – She asked.

\- Touch what?

\- My breasts. I´ll let you touch them. – She said and pull her shirt up revealing ample chest. I turned my head and blushed harder. – N-no I don't want to! – I responded. I feel my hands touching something soft. I looked back at Alice, my hands were in her breasts. – Oh.

I touched and groped them, they were warm and soft her left breast had a tattoo that run all the way to her hip and looked like the ones in her face and neck. She slapped my hands and lowered her shirt. – Okay, that's enough. Honestly I don't know why men in this continent are so obsessed with tits, kissing is much more sensual. Her lips turned into her another smile.

\- How about a kiss? – She asked.

\- What?

\- A kiss. It´s least that you could own me right? – She asked me with a pout.

\- A kiss I-Is alright. – I said. Alice wasted no time, she pressed her lips to mine. I kissed back, she tried to stick her tongue in my mouth and I broke the kiss.

\- What´s wrong? – She asked. – Oh I get it. Its called a tongue kiss. – She explained.

\- Tongue kiss? – I asked.

\- Yeah, just move your tongue with mine.

She kissed me again, pressing her hand against´t the back of my head. Her tongue slipped into my mouth. I didn't backed away this time and responded by moving my tongue with her. We stayed like that for a few moments. Our kissing eventually became more intense, Alice move her head from the back of my head to my cheek and my hands grabbed her shoulders. Alice broke the kiss, a thin trail of saliva connecting us. She then put her index finger in front of my opened mouth, a pink light has glowing from the tip of the finger. I felt a warm sensation in my throat.

\- What has that? – I asked. – A small curse. Enjoy having an erection lasting an hour, pervert! I´m going downstairs, to attack the restaurant. – She said and left the suite.

I was left alone, processing what just happened. I realized what she had done has I felt a familiar sensation in my crotch.

\- Damn you evil woman!

End of Chapter.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Don´t forget to leave a review and until next time. ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Desert part 2

3 days later

We were in a local tavern frequently used by monsters, locals and travelers eating our lunch at a table in a corner, discussing our new employer.

\- He`s probably from the merchant guild. He did want to go incognito. – Alice said while pouring water into her cup.

\- He could also be a criminal trying to escape the city. – I said while stabbing a piece of fish with my fork.

\- Wait, are we talking about that guy that hired you two, earlier? – Slyph asked. She was sitting in a corner of the table.

\- Right, you weren´t there. – Alice said. – Explain to here Luca. I´m going to take a piss.

She got up and left our table. I wonder how she uses the bathroom. Does she sit like everyone else? Her tail is very flexible from what I´ve seen.

\- Are you going to tell me about your new job or are you just keep wondering how her butt works? – Slyph complained.

\- What? Oh right. – I explained about what happened earlier. Mid-morning we were accosted by two guards that took us to a man with fine clothes. The man had told us that he was aware that we had used magic to get free rooms. That the staff was suspicious of us and that He had bribe them to ignore our staying. He then hired us to escort him to the neighboring city, Val Ghenis, a city state run by an elite caste of monsters. According to Alice, the city is independent of the monster nations but keeps diplomatic ties.

Him hiring us was a blessing in disguise. The last couple days were spent researching the current location of Gnome, and Slyph teaching me how to ´´talk`` with her. Pinpointing the exact location of Gnome had been fruitless and according to Alice, the next best place to search about it would be Val Ghenis.

\- Also, should you be doing that? – I asked.

\- Doing what? Sitting on the table? It's fine, I´ve seen people doing way worse. In tables I mean.

\- What kind of ... no nevermind. – I kind of have an idea of what she´s referring to. Even through Slyph has a very childlike appearance she´s still much older than me and Alice.

\- No, I mean people might find weird seeing you. – I explained.

\- Like that bearded man that has been staring for the past minute? – She asked.

I looked at where she was pointing. There was a man staring at us, with long hair and beard, his dirty clothes marking him has a traveler.

\- She just an illusion, you´re drunk. – I said, putting my hand in front of Slyph. – Go away.

The man walked away quickly leaving us alone. – I think he was looking at you the entire time. – Slyph said.

\- I´m back. What I missed? – Alice asked, sitting back in her chair.

\- Nothing important. Just giving Slyph some exposition. – I responded.

\- Nothing important then. – Alice said and went back to her meal.

The next day.

It was early in the morning, the sun had been in the sky for only one hour, yet the market has already bustling with activity has we made our way to one of the city gates. We found our employee In front of the gates, sitting on a bench. For what I could see as we approached him, he had switched is expensive elaborated clothes for mundane traveling gear, a common curved sword and a shield. Next to him has a backpack.

\- Good, you´re both here. – He said noticing our arrival. He got up and grabbed his backpack. He had the same common dark skin has every other person native to the desert but instead of black hair and brown eyes he had with dirty blond hair and blue eyes.

\- We here as agreed. Shall we get going? – Alice asked.

\- Yes, let´s go. We could through the normal route, the trading road, or we could take a shortcut through an area full of scorpions and get to the city in half the time. – He said.

\- Alice looked at me. – Shortcut? – She asked. I nodded. – Shortcut.

\- We can handle the scorpions. – Alice said.

Our employee shrugged. – Alright, let´s go. – We started walking but suddenly, he stopped and turned to us. – By the way, you can break the spell. - He said to Alice.

\- What spell? – Alice asked.

\- I can tell that you´re using a spell to disguise yourself. You can stop using it.

Alice looked at him for a moment, She then clapped her hands, was involved by a bright light and all her monster characteristics returned. Except for her horns.

That´s a thing she does a lot. According to her being the only lamia with horns, she used to get annoyed a lot by people asking about them, wanting to touch them and insulting her. So, when she learned how to use illusion magic the first thing she did was to make her horns invisible.

That´s what she told me at least.

\- Huh, I thought you would be a succubus.

\- Well, I´m not. – Alice responded.

\- Well, let´s get going. – He said awkwardly and we started walking.

2 hours later

\- I can´t hear any more of their chatter. - Alice said holding her sword, keeping full alert for any noise that remotely sounded like a scorpion.

\- I is it safe to proceed then? – Our leader asked, a few meters away from us with his shield raised.

\- It looks like it's safe, yes. – Alice responded while poking one of the dead (red) scorpions.

\- Let´s go quickly before more show up. – I said and started walking.

\- Luca, be careful. – Alice said.

\- Careful with w- Ah! – I fell into one of the holes the scorpions came from.

\- With the hole. Are you okay? – She asked looking into the hole.

\- Yeah, I´m still alive. – I said.

\- Do you have a broken limb or ankle? That´s a thing that usually happens in these situations.

I felt and moved all my limbs. – No nothing´s broken. I´m a little shook, but that's it. Maybe a bruise. – I said.

\- Good, let's get you out. – Alice said, suddenly appearing upside down, grabbed me and took me out of the hole.

\- This happens a lot? – Our boss asked.

\- You mean, him, falling into a hole, in the middle of the desert, full of scorpions? No that doesn`t usually happen.

We reached Val Ghenis shortly after midday (we had to stop for a short lunch at the insisting of Alice). Like the Sabasa capital, the city stood close to a river, all sides were dotted with farms. The city itself has smaller, its most distinguished landmark was a white pyramid with a golden top and with a statue of a four legged creature with a human head.

\- Hey, Alice, who`s statue is that supposed to be? – I asked her.

\- That´s the Sphinx. An ancient mythological deity that´s said to protect children and the sick. – She answered.

\- Mythological? So it doesn´t exist?

\- That´s right. – She said.

Well, that´s a bit disappointing, I thought.

We made our way through one the streets, packed with people, both humans and monsters, stalls stood against the well with merchants selling their goods. Some were local. Others were exotic products from far away countries. Some of those exotic products I immediately recognized has extremely common.

Our boss guided us through the street until we arrived at the entrance of a training ground. It was empty except for a girl practicing her swordsmanship.

\- There she is. – our employee said. He turned to us. – Your services are no longer required. –He retrieved a pouch from an inner pocket. – Here your payment. – He gave it to Alice and walked away from us to the girl.

\- Sarah. – He said getting her attention. – She turned around. She had a similar appearance to him. Dark skinned with blue eyes and blonde hair.

\- Cliff! What are you doing here? – She asked surprised. That reminds me, we didn´t actually ask for his name. Also, who in the right mind calls their kid Cliff?

\- Your father thought you were kidnapped but I convinced him otherwise.

\- I left a note telling where I was going. – She protested.

\- I know, I read it. For what possible reason did you need to come here?

Sarah fidgeted with her thumbs, a blush formed on her cheeks. – Granberia.

\- Oh for spirit´s sake Sarah! – He facepalmed. – This again?

\- You´ll see! I´ll become a great swordmaster and she´ll notice me! – She protested.

\- You could at least come up with an excuse to come here with an escort. You´re the kingdom next in line! Hell, you could have just asked me to be the escort!

\- I´m an adult. I shouldn´t need my older cousin to cover for me. – She said meekly.

\- Wait, so you two are part of Sabasa royalty? – Alice asked.

\- What? Were you two listening to our conversation? – Cliff asked.

\- Yeah, there´s a big echo in here. – I said.

\- Who are they? – Sarah asked.

\- Some mercenary that I hired has an escort. Let´s go talk in a more private place. – He said and both of them left.

\- Okay, rude. – Alice protested.

\- It´s kind of cute. The princess is in love with Granberia. – I said.

\- Please, that wasn´t love, that was just a crush. People can´t fall in love at first sight. – Alice said.

\- You don´t believe in love at first sight? – I asked her. She made a mocking sound. – There´s no such thing as love at first sight. It´s just teenagers getting horny. Real love is a choice and it takes time and effort. – She said and opened the pouch to count the coins. – He gave us a large payment. This is enough to feed a family for more than a month. – She said and put the pouch in one of her pockets.

\- Let´s get lunch. – She said.

\- We already had lunch. – I said.

\- Second lunch then.

We spent 2 days in the city researching a timeline for Gnome's current location. Alice was the one that actually did the research while she made me learn about the history of magic. According to the research, Gnome´s last know location has in some ruins in the north, in an area with no villages or any other kind of civilization. We bought enough supplies to last us weeks and a camel to carry all of it and made our way.

During our travel, I found out something else about the desert. Sandstorms. In our third day, we had to take shelter in a cave to escape the storm. It raged for almost two days, only stopping at night. At least with storm gone, we can see the stars through the hole in the cave while laying down in a blanket.

\- Dinner was great. You´re a great cook, almost makes being stuck in here worth it. – Alice said.

\- Thanks. I just followed the recipe. – I said.

\- You followed it right. I knew It was a good idea to bring you along. – Alice said, laying down on the rug.

\- If I remember right you were the one who tagged along. – I responded back.

We laid down, looking at the stars for a while in silence, with only the sound of the wind and an occasional sound from the camel.

\- Hey, Luka do you know the name of any of the stars? – Alice asked.

\- Hum ... I can tell that shiny one is the North Star. Besides that one ... can´t name any other. How about you?

\- I can see the bear constellation over there. – She pointed at a group of stars. - Or Is that the fox constellation? They´re a bit similar. – She tilted her head. – Yeah, that's bear one. So, does the church have any myths or stories about stars?

\- They say that every star is an angel looking over us. – I said. She snorted. – Your turn.

\- There is an old myth that every star represents a child created by the mother of all the monsters, the progenitors of all the races.

Cool, is there more about that myth? – I asked.

\- There is if you let me continue. – She responded. – Has I was saying, so she created the progenitors and let them roam the world, but something was missing, they felt like there was something missing. So the Mother created men to keep them company. That´s more or less the myth of creation in Hellgondo. The more commonly know at least.

\- It´s an interesting myth. What about human women? Where did they fit in this story?

\- They were created by the Mother too. The myths don´t really make a distinction between monster kind and human women. – She explained with a yawn.

I thought about the story for a few moments before asking another question. – So what other myths are there? – I asked and noticed she had felt asleep. The dinner was quite filling, maybe that made her feel sleepy. I was starting to feel sleepy too and eventually fell asleep too.

6 days later.

After days of only sand (and a small oasis), we finally reached the ruins.

\- Here we are at last. - Alice said before taking a sip from her canteen. – Let´s hope Gnome is really here.

\- Before that let´s get some shade and rest. – I said.

\- A bit of shade would be good right now. – Alice said.

We walked to the largest building we could see, or at least what remained of it. Has we were walking the ground started shaking.

\- Was that an earthquake? – I asked.

\- It didn´t feel like one. – Alice said. The ground shook again. – There it is again. And another one... and another one. It feels like the center is close.

The camel started getting agitated, beating the ground with its hoofs and I tried to calm him. – Easy, boy relax. – It didn´t work. The rope escaped from my hands and the camel ran away.

\- Come back here! Alice, help me with the camel. – I turn to her. She had her ear close to the ground.

\- These aren´t earthquakes. They are vibrations. – She said.

\- Vibrations? – I asked. The ground started to shake again with more intensity.

\- Luka run! – Alice shouted. She punched the ground with enough strength to shake. She then jumped back, a second later the ground where she stood exploded, a huge orange scaled creature burst from the ground, long and massive with a round mouth full of sharp fangs, roaring.

\- What the hell is that! – I shouted.

\- Run to the ruins! Now! – Alice shouted. I did like she ordered.

Alice cast a bunch of ice projectiles against the creature. The sharp projectiles hit the scales with no effect, the creature roar and lunged itself to Alice, she dodged to the side and cast another bigger ice spell. The creature recoiled this time when the spell hit it this time. It lunged itself to her again, Alice jumped, into the back of the creature, unsheathed one of her swords and with wind magic, stabbed the creature. The creature screamed.

\- Yeah! You felt that didn't you, motherfucker?! – She yelled. The creature shook itself. Alice grabbed the hilt of the weapon for her dear life. When the creature stopped shaking for a moment, Alice ripped part of the damaged scale with her free hand and threw it away. Blood poured from the wound.

The creature screamed in agony and shook itself again. Alice couldn´t keep her hands on her sword this time and fell from the creature. Has she fell, she unsheathed another sword and stabbed it on the right side of the creature, stopping her fall. The creature screamed, Alice ripped another big piece of a scale and cast a fire spell into the creature´s soft flesh.

The creature screamed again in agony and retracted back into the hole in defeat. Alice jumped into the sand. The creature disappeared into the sand. More vibrations were felt, diminishing with every next one until they ceased.

\- I'M FUCKING AWESOME! – Alice shouted. She took a moment to catch her breath before looking around until she spotted me. – There you are. I can hear the camel in the ruins. Go get it. – She ordered. I obeyed her, still recovering from the epic scene I had just witnessed.

Alice meanwhile picked up one of the scales she ripped off with a big smile. – And for the winner goes the spoilers.

I found the camel without a problem, the moment it saw me it started making sounds, calling me.

\- There you are. You can´t just run away like that. You have all our supplies with you. – I said while patting him in the neck. It made another sound, still a bit shaky. – It´s alright that mean big thing is gone. – I said trying to assure the poor animal. I grabbed the rope and tied it to a broken pillar. Alice showed up, carrying one of the creature scales

\- Hey, Luka can you borrow me your knife? That one you got from the bandits?

\- Sure, here. – I said, unsheathed the knife and gave to her and continued tying the rope. I finished tying it and turned to Alice. She sitting on a broken pillar, scraping the inner part of the shell with my knife.

\- What was that thing anyway?

\- Sandworm. – She responded. – A creature that roams the desert, under the sand. I never thought I would ever see one.

\- Are we safe in here? Won´t it came back? – I asked.

-We're fine. Sandworms never go into ruins.

\- Did you know this was going to happen?

She looked at me. – Of course not. Those things are very rare. We just got a bit of bad luck. – She looked back at the shell. – There´s a bit more on this side. – She said and continued with her task. A bit of some kind of red dust fell into a small opened bag. Getting closer to her I noticed a smell resembling cinnamon.

\- What are you doing?

\- Getting melange. – She answered.

\- What´s that?

\- A type of spice excreted by sandworms through their skins. – She answered. – Excreted? Does that mean that its sandworm poop? – I asked.

\- Pretty much. It´s also used as an ingredient for healing potions.

\- You know how to make healing potions? – I asked.

\- No, but a skilled alchemist should know. – She said and took a good look at the scale. – Seems like it's done. – She put the scale down and closed the bag with a proud smile. She then took another look at the scale and knocked on it.

\- If we can get a leather worker to do some tanning and put some straps on it, it will make a good shield. – Her face turned into one of displeasure. – Oh no.

\- What´s wrong? – I asked.

\- I just realized I lost one of my swords. – She said, with a hint of sadness.

\- You still have two.

\- Correction, I still have three. You have the angel halo.

\- You want it back? – I asked.

\- Fuck, no I don´t want that ugly thing back. – She responded. Why the hell did she even had it in the first place then? She clapped her hands. – All this business with the sandworm opened my appetite. I´m gonna get a little snack. You want a snack too? – She asked me. She got up and approach the camel.

\- Sure, I could go for a bite too. There´s some orange jam left. Don´t forget the bread.

\- Orage jam sounds good. – She said and grabbed a jar of said jam. – Where´s the wine?

\- What wine? – I asked

\- The wine. On those small bottles.

\- That´s just grape juice. You thought you were drinking wine? We didn´t bring any wine. It would be dangerous to drink alcohol In the desert. – I explained.

\- So, where´s the grape juice? – She asked, ignoring my complaints.

\- In the red bag in front of you.

\- Ah, there it is. – She brought the food and we ate our meal, enjoying the temporary shade for while. When I finished eating, Slyph popped out.

\- I can sense Gnomey! She´s close by! Let´s go look for her. – Slyph said excitedly.

\- Oh good, we got the right place. – Alice said. – Go look for her to get it over with. It feels like we´ve been looking for months.

I got up. – So where is she?

\- Follow me! – She said and floated away from me. I followed her deeper into the ruins.

\- So, where´s Gnome?

\- I felt her presence right here. ... I get it. She must be hiding. She can be a bit shy. – Slyph said.

\- So, what? We're going to have to look at every corner for a – did you hear that?

\- Hear what?

\- Footsteps, I heard footsteps.

\- Is Alice joining us on our search? – Slyph asked.

\- No those were footsteps. – I said.

I walked through a broken archway looked around looking for the source of said footsteps. I heard more footsteps coming from behind a cracked wall, I got to the other side of the wall the source already gone. I saw something turn a corner. Too small to even be a child.

\- Ah, I get what´s happening. – Slyph said.

\- What´s happening exactly?

\- It´s her mud dollies.

\- Mud dollies?

\- Yeah, she makes these adorable mud dolls with earth magic. If we find one we can it chase back to Gnomey.

-Then let´s see if we can find one of those dolls.

We turned the corner, into a row of ruined houses.

\- That doll could be anywhere. How are we supposed to find it? – I asked.

\- We just need a bit of luck. – Slyph said.

\- Can´t you just sense her? – I asked.

\- Good Thinking! We make a good team, you and I. – She said full of enthusiasm. Did she forget that she could do that? Slyph closed her eyes and hummed for a moment.

\- Gnomey´s that way. – She pointed at one of the houses in end of the street.

\- Is she in one of the houses?

\- No, no, she´s after the houses.

\- Oh alright, let's go meet her then.

We walked through the ruined street, midway a creature came out from the ruined house in front of us. Like Slyph said, It was a brown doll made of dry mud with holes in place of the eyes and the mouth in shape of a sad frown. It noticed us and run away.

\- After it! – Slyph yelled. We chased it. For something so small it was fast. The doll kept jumping and climbing over obstacles trying to escape us. It eventually took us to a stone circle where a girl stood up. The doll jumped into her hands. The girl in question was a young, short girl with long brown hair dressed in heavy desert clothes and a jester hat. Most of her face was hidden making her green eyes her only distinguishing feature. Besides her, there were two more dolls, one with a smile another with mouth that looked like a midscream.

\- Is that ...

\- Gnomey! – Slyph said excitedly. The girl's face turned into one of surprise. She opened her arms has Slyph charged her and hug her.

\- It´s so good to see you again. – Slyph said. – Wait, hold on. – Slyph made hand signs to communicate with her. It´s good to see you again Gnome.

It´s good to see you to Slyph. Who´s your friend?

This is Luka. I´m traveling with him. Say hi Luka.

\- Right. Um. Hello ... Gnome. I´m Luka. Nice to... meet you. I ... want ... to ... Slyph could you explain for me? Please? My sign language still isn´t very good.

\- Sure buddy. He wants to make a pact to learn magic. What do you say? Want to travel with us? We´ll see what new countries are around and meet up with Undine and Salamander.

If he wants to make a pact then he was to prove himself then.

\- What was that? What do I have to do? – I asked.

\- You have to prove yourself to Gnomey.

\- Do we have to fight? – I asked. – Yes. – Slyph responded. – What happens if I lose? – I asked.

Slyph turned to Gnome, made hand signs, Gnome made hand signs, Slyph turned to me.

\- You can try again if you feel confident. – Slyph said.

Can I prove myself now? – I asked Gnome. She nodded. Slyph backed away to the side to give us space. I unsheathed the angel halo and went into a battle stance. Gnome pointed at me and her dolls moved, in front of her making silly fighting poses.

\- So, I´m fighting your dolls? – I asked.

\- Begin! – Slyph shouted. The dolls charged at me. I evaded their attack. – Is it alright for me to hit the dolls?

\- It's fine. Gnomey can do more in an instant. Use your new technique. And shout the name.

\- Uh, Okay. Gale Slash! – Wind magic flew through my weapon like a tornado. I cut two of the dolls with a diagonal slash each and the third on with a vertical slash, cutting it in half.

\- How was that? Good enough? – I asked. Gnome approached me and extended her hand. I extended my hand. Instead of a flash of light, Gnome started slamming me against the ground.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

\- Ugh, what the hell was that for? – I asked. I didn´t get an answer. I got grabbed by my left arm and slammed me into the ground a few more times and was thrown. I heard an unfamiliar laughter, probably Gnome.

\- Hey, Luka, I think defeating the dolls wasn´t the end of the fight. – Slyph said.

\- Thank you, I noticed. – I said while getting up. I looked back at Gnome, she was about to grab me again.

\- No! – I dodged, with wind magic, getting some distance between us. I need to find a way to defeat her. She´s shorter than me and has a shorter reach. Maybe if I just hit her in the head enough times ... with the weapon I just lost.

\- There you are. I see you found Gnome. – I heard Alice. She was next to Slyph, watching.

\- Yeah, I found her. I´m trying ... No! Not again! – I was grabbed again and slammed to the ground several more times.

\- I have no idea what´s going on but you have my moral support! – Alice shouted.

I lay on the ground, my head spinning. - Oh Ilias, what is even happening. - I felt something on me. Gnome was sitting on me with a big mischievous smile.

\- What ? – I asked in confusion. She raised my vest and started to slap me in the belly.

\- Ah! Au! Stop it! Ah! – I protested.

\- I´m so glad we came all the way into the middle of the scorching desert for this. – Alice said.

I grabbed Gnome by the head, headbutted her and pushed her. I got up, notice my weapon and went to retrieve it.

\- Luka, do you want me to help you? – Slyph asked.

\- Yes! Please! – I shouted. Slyph disappeared in a flash of light.

\- Oh, so it´s alright for a spirit to help against another spirit? – Alice asked. – I have no idea how any of this works.

(Don´t worry I have a plan)

Any plan would be good.

(Just focus your wind magic. I´ll do the rest)

I focused my mind, a slight breeze formed around me. Gnome got up, with an angry look and her cheeks puffed. She walked to me. The wind picked up, getting stronger, stronger than it should be. The wind started to form a whirlpool of sand, growing in intensity, and then I blacked out. When I come to my senses, I was laying on the ground again, feeling dizzy.

\- That ... was crazy. How are you feeling Slyph?

(If I had anything between my legs I would have pissed myself.)

\- ... I´ll that was a yes. Agh! – I felt hitting my butt, hard. I turned around, Alice was looking at me with an angry look.

\- Did you just slap me in the ass? With your tail? – I asked. She slapped the back of my head with her tail.

\- You threw sand everywhere, you idiot. – She said and dusted sand from her hand.

\- Sorry. It was a desperate gambit.

\- Whatever. Just make the pact. I´m going to clean myself. – She said and walked away.

\- Alright, where did the gnome end up? ... Ah, there she is. – Gnome was laying on the ground a few meters away. I went to her, cradled her in my arms, slapped her lightly in the face to wake her up. Her eyes opened.

\- You alright? – I asked her. She got up, took her hat off, shaked the sand out of it, put it back and made hand signs.

What´s she saying Slyph? I don´t think I´ve learned those signs.

(She´s saying I give up. Seems like we won)

Gnome extended her hand. I looked at her hand with skepticism.

(it´s fine, the fight it´s over)

I made a humming sound. Gnome shaked her hand.

(It´s okay, really.)

... Alright. – I shook her hand. She disappeared in a familiar flash of light.

(Yay, Gnomey´s traveling with us now)

\- I don´t feel different. No, wait I feel ... invigorated. It´s not the same.

(Gnomey power is different from mine, you´ll see)

I made my way back to Alice. She was next to the camel, her face and hair free from sand.

\- I´m guessing everything went as according to plan in there. – She said.

\- I made the pact yes. – I responded.

\- Good. Now, if we go east from here and if we're lucky we´ll reach an oasis by sunset.

(According to with Gnomey there is an oasis east of here)

\- We're in luck, Gnome says that there is an oasis east of here.

(That´s what I just said!)

... That´s fortunate! Let´s go, I want to take a bath before it gets too cold and tomorrow, we can finally start our way to leave this damn desert.

\- Yeah, it I´ll be great to get to a cooler region.

We continue our journey with Gnome now on our party, onward to new places.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thank you for reading and until next time.


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